TIERRA DE ESPECIAS

I like very much bands like the Spanish Amarok (means wolf in Inuit language) blending influences from folk/jazz music and using many natural sounding instruments. The music on "Tierra de Especias" (which means Land of Spices) is a tap more attractive to me compared with "Canciones de los perdidos" (though that one is very nice as well) since it's more vivid and energetic. First two songs are very well presented Spanish folkloristic music (not that much on the Flamenco side) with a strong oriental influence. "M'Gour" has a slight classical touch with nice violin. "Chenini " is an instrumental piece more in a jazz-rock vein with great violin and flute and certainly a highlight of this record. It's as well the only track which an obvious rock fraction. "El Caramillo Del Alba" is again without vocals and a short quiet more classically oriented piece. After two folkloristic songs we have the instrumental "El Sran Bazar" which is a very nice kinda ethnic jazz fusion with didjeridoo. After the flamenco-type "Danza De Samotracia" with violin and acoustic guitar before we have the 16 minutes long multi-parted song "Azabel Cuentacuentos" which is very diverse, never too long at any moment and should appeal to every fan of prog rock epics.

This one from them might not be called an essential album and most progheads will probably go for their most complex work "Quentadharken ". Nevertheless I'm rounding up my 3 ½ half stars to 4 since it's a very good and pleasant one in ethnic fusion with great musicianship and wonderful versatile instrumentation.

I don't feel anything special when I listen to this album. Their first two albums were good but after those, I felt like a downhill in the quality of their works.

In this case, vocals are pretty unbearable while present. Therefore, I prefer the instrumental tracks that are featured on this "Tierra De Especies" like the melodic "Caramillo Del Alba". To highlight the poor vocal parts, the next "Naki Naki" is a superb example of this "feature". Fortunately, the music is excellent, complex and quite entertaining.

Overall, the fluting parts are excellent, percussions are quite pleasant but Marta Segura "performance" on the vocals is quite disputable. The Eastern influence is also dominant at times: with such titles as "El Gran Bazar" and "Danza De Samotracia" (no wonder).

The epic "Azabel Cuentacuentos" displays some "Supper's Ready" feeling (acoustic guitar, flute) which is quite nice to listen to. Hopefully, this excellent number is almost an all instrumental one and also includes some very delicate violin sections. The closing part is not really impressive but as a whole, this is by far the best number of this album which I rate with three stars.