REINO ROCOSO

Spanish group from Cadiz, formed in early 89' by Anton Ramirez (bass and vocals) and Jaime Padilla (guitars and vocals).The early months were characterized by additions and exits in the line-up, however an interesting demo was recorded the same year, eventually leading to a contract with Musea Records.The result was a great gig as a supporting act to Pendragon at the 89' Festival Noche Magica and a debut album entitled ''Reino Rocoso'' on Musea Parallele with Jose Maria Colon on drums and Harnakis' Lali Belza on keyboards.

The album contains five long tracks of mainly instrumental and rather soft Progressive Rock with jazzy, Latin and symphonic hints here and there.Onza started as a Symphonic Rock group but through time they incorporated elements from Jazz/Fusion, New Age and Andalusian Rock, resulting to a strange but still cohesive amalgam of different styles and soundscapes.The music is interesting, but what actually prevents the album from being more than decent is the thin keyboards and awful mechanical drums (is there actually a normal drummer in here or a drum machine?) along with a mediocre production.Compositionally the mix of these styles is tight with occasional jazzy guitar plays followed by mellow light-symph synth-driven themes and Lounge keyboard passages blended with some Andalusian influences on guitars' and keyboards' sections.There are also plenty of solos to be discovered in ''Reino Rocoso'', the guitar-based ones are cool but these plastic keyboards are at moments very fake and even unbearable.

This is a great example of an album held down by the cheap production and the false use of instruments.If you still can afford these flaws, the album comes recommended if you like instrumental and jazzy Progressive/Art Rock...2.5 stars.