MERLIN

Unfair treatment by their own record label used to be a sadly common cause for the break-up of many bands, that didn't deserve it. Merlin was one of them. Signed just to be taylored according to a pre-fixed image, they couldn't cope with that. Two of them, Alejandro De Michele (from Pastoral), and Gustavo Montesano (from Crucis), were already prominent figures in the Argentine scene by late seventies, and Sazam Records (otherwise supportive with their artists) decided to make a more commercial move this time, and tried to repeat the success of Pastoral with (the image of) another duo. The other three members were neglected by the launching campaign, their faces reduced to fotos in the lyrics insert of the LP album, and, after shows being booed by fans expecting something else (as advertised), and despised by a musical press disoriented by changing times, Merlin split.

And the album really opens with a very Pastoral-type tune, led by De Michele exquisite voice, but, as soon as the whole of the band join him, stands out the new group style of performance: a tight modern prog rock sound conducted by Montesano's masterful electric guitar, and complemented by the band, sometimes with a closely intertwined counterpoint of melodic lines, sometimes with fast (and occassionally frantic) rhythmic designs marked by continuous metric changes and strategic cut-and-go chopping. Montesano sings lead on a few tracks (listen Té en París and Démonos Cuenta), achieving an emergent Crucis feel, but without the symphonic dimension of his former band. More likely, the keyboards and the terrific vocal harmonies contribute to a chamber-like environment (like in Donde Todo Parece Irreal and Un Trozo De Eternidad), where the songs evolve organically in horizontal lines. Even so, a great sense of dynamics prevails, like in Quería Ser El Mejor, for example.

A succulent slice of prog by a band that never had the chance they truly deserved.