ALQUILBENCIL

Badalona-based Catalan Hard/Fusion/Prog group.Alquibencil were put together in 1997 and the original line-up featured Carlos Rojo and Joan Santanach on guitars, Richard Pons on bass and Xavi Carbonell on drums.On their debut they were helped by sax player Oriol Jimenez and keyboardist Alex Alguacil on a couple of tracks.It was a self-titled private-released CD, which saw the light in 1998.

Alquibencil wouls take the rougher moments of KING CRIMSON and DJAM KARET and transform them into some very noise Experimental Rock blended with Hard Prog and Fusion, where the dual guitar attack dominates the whole atmosphere.This is completely raw material, a bit like early CEREBUS EFFECT or DEUS EX MACHINE with very sharp and often metallic guitars, where the music often loses its focus and becomes an endless journey of guitar jams with breaks, heavy riffing and powerful grooves.The first couple of tracks are very annoying to say the least with loose arrangements based on heavy guitars and a chaotic atmosphere overall.The later tracks though hold a bit of interest.The guitar work becomes more flexible with both psychedelic and groovy moments, the addition of keys and saxes add a nice jazzy color, while the presence of the very solid rhythm section is eventually evident.Moreover the band decided to throw in some fine melodies and delicate pianos at a few moments and, while the music remains highly atonal and edgy, these compositions sound more balanced.

Not paricularly recommended, this first Alquibencil work is more of a cool jamming session than a well-worked album and I can see it belonging in the collection of Experimental and Hard Prog fans, but no further than this.