SUEÑOS DE JADE

Now, their 10th album was a huge step for these Guatemalan rockers. It's hard to satisfy the three kinds of audience they have: those who like their love ballads side; those who love their more alternative Rock kind of style; and those who adore their progressive roots. That's why Alux is a complete rare case of crossover progressive Rock in Latin America. And one that really succeeds at the end.

In this album, they went completely different from their last album MURCIELAGO DANZANTE, in which they did great songs, but they didn't push the envelope outside of their comfort zone: romantic ballads and good assemble of arrangements but with no exploration.

With SUEÑOS DE JADE we find a huge and bold step, doing experimental songs with dialogs, strange themes and using a lot of outside collaborations, such as arabic instruments, a string cuartet and rare vocals of famous poets and musicians from Guatemala. The structure of the songs is also rare and the arrangements of the instrumental parts are quite interesting, using a lot of guitar solos, mixed with cello and flaute leads and unisons.

Off course, there are some ballads here and there, but even them are rare and experimental (one is completely performed by a string cuartet and other have over two minutes of interlude).

I have to point out that the quality of the production is quite of "first class", something that the band was really focused to really "compete" with International bands. On in on, I'm quite impressed by the band pushing and searching for new boundaries outside their comfort zone so late in their career. It's an excellent addition to any prog collection, especially for those who seek for latinamerican Progressive Rock. The masters are really back. 4 of 5.