ETAPA SINFONICA 79 - 80

I find that one of the most compelling reasons to enjoy this album is the contribution of the lead guitar player, Pablo Guyot, who is a well-known rock musician in Argentina, but usually outside the prog tribe. His clear & vibrant tone, with a great melodic taste in the solos, and sharp harmonic ear in the interaction with keyboards and sax, is fortunately all over the place, enhancing the general texture of the music in a decisive way.

The other main musical force behind this affair is, of course, the keyboardist, lead singer and bandleader César "Banana" Pueyrredón. As for the keys, they are always on the bright side of things, contributing symphonic fanfare & soloing (listen to track 2 Víspera) or commanding crisp instrumental charges (listen to tracks 5 El Escultor Y La Estatua and 7 Huellas De La Tierra). The dexterity, being never overcomplex, isn't simplistic either, featuring a great variety of resources in the melodic & harmonic levels, but also in the rhythmic one, with tasty shifts in accent and pace. Being also a very good bandleader, it's in the vocal department where the less remarkable stuff lies. But even so, that relative shortcoming is cleverly managed by resourcing to excellent vocal harmonies, changing register when needed, or tweaking the placement of the voice in the mix. Luckily enough, they never resort to any soundboard effect to modify drastically the natural timbre of César's baritone, which sounds unpretentiously nice and adaptable to the many turns and twists of the music.

What else can I say? The band sounds tight and versatile, adapting themselves to every new mood & move without noticeable effort, the compositions are great in general, and the main sonic references coming to my mind are Kayak, Greenslade, and Supertramp.