MÄGO DE OZ

Between the recording of "Gaia II" and "Gaia III," Mägo de Oz took a break from the extensive rock opera format to offer us a more straightforward album, without such a clear concept and with a somewhat more rebellious air!

For this, they entered the Cube studio in Madrid in 2007 with the same lineup as "Gaia II" and already with Patricia Tapia as an official member of the group. Txus and the company's idea was to create songs that did not exceed 5 minutes in duration, with a less metal and more festive overall atmosphere.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the quality of the compositions on this album did not match up, despite the initially good idea. The album does emit lighter and less serious vibe, occasionally reminiscent of "Jesús de Chamberí" but ultimately, the main feeling is that everything this album offers to our ears has already been heard before, and much better.

After four or five listens, it's difficult to pick out any specific track or chorus, as the album falls into absolute mediocrity and does not hold up over the long term. The sound is excellent, and the musical execution is quite competent (Jorge Salán is an outstanding guitarist), but the lyrics are generally overly sentimental and rely too much on clichés, and the melodies are far from the memorable tunes that made them great in albums like "La Leyenda de la Mancha" or "Finisterra."

Best songs: Y ahora voy a salir (not a good song at all, but at least surprising to hear Mägo de Oz attempting to sing a Mexican ranchera) and Runa Llena (a decent instrumental track)

Conclusion: "La Ciudad de los Árboles" is a lighter and more direct album compared to the "Gaia" trilogy, which was the main project the band was involved in at that time.

However, this is no guarantee of quality, as the album falls into absolute mediocrity, with very few genuinely acceptable songs and practically none that are memorable. In my opinion, it represents a true low point in the band's discography, both musically and lyrically, and is a completely forgettable work.

A compilation album from this Spanish prog metal band. A band which has so far failed to impress me.

The music I have heard so far from this band is in the party metal genre. On this album, named after a city/town where I spent some of the best years of my life in, they attacks old songs with a mix of contempt and sarcasm. An old Elvis Presley classic is translated into Spanish and then cannibalised and vandalised. The old evergreen Somewhere Over the Rainbow also gets the Mago De Oz treatment. Actually, this version is good and one of the best songs on this compilation album. There are other songs here which is not too bad. That includes some old Spanish evergreens from the 1930s and the band deserve credit for lifting these songs up to the surface again.

But my overall impression is that this is only a decent album & just for their fans. I do not see much value in this compilation album at all. Hence my score.

2 stars

An interesting music with Spain lyrics and good musicianship. The use of violin enriches the music really well. The music is not typical progressive metal - it has some traditional elements as well. The album opens excellently with 'El Espíritu del Bosque (Intro)' - 1:46 that serves as overture of the album: setting the overall tone of the music they offer in the album. It flows excellently into second track 'La Ciudad de los Árboles' - 6:02. I like this track very well because it has excellent composition combining electric as well as acoustic instruments (violin) with traditional elements, performed in energetic fashion with excellent vocal work. The traditional elements are really good. I like the style and tempo changes that happen frequently during the track. The next track, as the title implies 'Mi Nombre es Rock & Roll - 6:03, is basically a straight rocker with good violin inserts that sometimes remind me to Kansas. The guitar solo is stunning. 'El Rincón de los Sentidos' - 4:38 involves violin since the beginning of the track and the violin serves as background during vocal at low register notes. My favorite track is 'La Canción de los Deseos' - 4:01 which basically a pop song backed nicely with violin and piano. I think the beauty of Mago de Oz music is their musicianship in blending modern instruments with the traditional elements using violin and piano as main instruments. The keyboard work is also nice.

It's a good album and it's different than what you usually hear. It's a new experience for me. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Only an excuse to rock out.

This Spanish band continues from where they left if from their debut album. More rock'n'roll in other words. With the latest event in the metal scene, this music is now called Pirates Metal. There is a huge scene dedicated this type of music now. It is not my type of scene, though.

The music on this album is party rock'n'roll with violins thrown into the usual bass/drums/ guitars/vocals setup. There are also some mandolin and keyboards here. Most of the songs are fast and party like songs. There are even a pretty good ballad included on the album. I feel that the band is evolving on this album to become a more rounded, matured band. But the quality of the songs on this album is not good at all so that is why I am pretty restricted in my sprinkling of stars. But this album proves that there may be hope on their more recent albums.

2.25 stars

The debut album from this Spanish band is a throwback to the beginning of the 1990s...... when this album was written and recorded. The music here is pretty trendy anno 2010 though.

We call this type of music pirates metal these days. The mix of power metal and folk rock. Mostly celtic folk rock, though. But Mago De Oz has also added a big dosage of rockabilly, bluegrass and punk too. The result is as progressive as a horse driven cart being overtaken by a car.

The quality is not good at all. I quite like the rockabilly stuff here. But the rest is pretty decent and nothing more. Mago De Oz was not included in ProgArchives because of this album, I believe. This is a debut album and nothing more than that.

2 stars

I was unaware at the time of acquisition that this is chiefly an album of covers, both of previously released MAGO DE OZ tunes and songs from the 1930s to the present by a wide variety of other artists, mostly translated into the group's native Spanish. Because I heard that early MAGO tended to the metallic, and "Gaia" had been such a pleasant discovery, I figured that its followup would be a good place to continue exploring this Spanish SPINAL TAP. While I enjoy a lot of this, it doesn't bring much new to my appreciation of the group's Celtic meets metal alchemy.

At least two of the parasitic covers are from the "Gaia" album, where greater orchestrations and sometimes a more metallic edge are added, but in the end they are the same songs, recognizable by their distinctive melodies and clever arrangement artistry. The opening jig is dispensable and without character, but the followup title cut actually proffers something quite different, a chugging rocker with raspy vocals, a football styled chorus, and a sweet gypsy break. The fact that it is a rare English song hardly matters. Were we expecting Gaelic perhaps? Another highlight is the WHITESNAKE cover "Dame tu Amor". Not being familiar with that group or the original "Guilty of Love", I can say MAGO has made it their own, a spirited Celtic rocker with some fine guitar licks and vocals from Andrea.

Another highlight is a version of disappeared 1970s Spanish band ASFALTO's "Mas Que Una Intención", a heartfelt power ballad that captures the musical zeitgeist of that period. The melody will ring in your ears for hours, along with the guitar fills and urgent vocals. I had heard of the original band but might want to check them out now. There is a similarity to MEDINA AZAHARA but with a more liberally progressive structure and dramatic flair, particularly in the tempo shifts and yearning fiddle. Similar kudos for the URIAH HEEP cover "Dama Negra". Perhaps not knowing the original helps but I really think the group has adopted and adapted well. The album closes with a very worthwhile cover of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" in English. The group puts its stamp on this Wizard of Oz standard, nowhere more than in the use of mandolin and the manner in which they artificially elongate the last syllable of each line in the chorus.

The only outright disaster is an ELVIS PRESLEY cover that is 5 parts lullaby for the unwilling and 1 part tacky rock and roll. While not necessarily the place to meet MAGO DE OZ, "Belfast" is worth a visit if you think musical genre pigeonholing is grounds for religious conflict.

The new Mago is better than older, with this album the band gives a new spin in their sound and their lyrics, this album tells a history about the Conquest of Mexico, also with this new sound adding more flutes and violin passages the barroque and medieval music is remarkable there are less guitars sounds on this album, the bass has amazing lines, the voice is powerful and very emotive, Also the Keyboards of Sergio takes a main role in this album for example playing amazing riffs in Mellotron (Van a Rodar Cabezas) so the album has a perfect harmony! BTW the melodies here are beautiful every song contains great melodies!

Every song is like a little history (since the album is conceptual it contains amazing lyrics). Apart of the history of the conquest of Mexico there are another history about Gaia (Goddess of Earth in greek mythology), the music is so catchy and powerful IMO this album is the best of them although I like every album of Mago ( Personally this one is my favorite).I love it!

The progressives structures are most notables in this album (Gaia and La Venganza de Gaia) now their overtures are more epics, this album is perfect to me every song is very important here, no filler, no waste time, everything fits here! if you dont like Mago but you like medieval sounds and barroque passages this album is for you of course with a touch of Folk/Metal. So 5 starts to this great record Recommended!

A very underrated band indeed they are here in PA, well Mago de Oz are not progressive at all they are folk metal band with celtic sounds but wow some instruments, rythms, melodies and structures are totally prog.

First at all this little album is not a LP is an EP because it contains just 5 songs, actually here in PA some albums of them are missing . This band is amazing and i dont care if in Spain they are overrated like a comercial band who cares about the reputation the music is superb.

Ok now the songs:

1. We have El Lago (The lake) this song opens with an atmospheric sound in the keyboards after this the guitar join to it and then the vocals this song is very good and I like it, BTW the vocals here in every song are powerful by Jose.

2. Now a rocky taste with T´esnucare Contra´l Bide with this song mago is just rocking there are not any progressive here but is a good song.

3. El Hijo del Blues (The Son of Blues) is a mix between rock n roll and blues structure the lyrics are silly but is very addictive to listen it another good song (not prog)

4. Gerdendula is a cover of Jethro tull I dont know exactly but is very relax to listen this short song. The acoutic guitar mixed with the violin and flutes is incredible. A good folk song indeed.

5. And for the ending of this EP we have the title track Mago de Oz (Wizard of Oz) yes this song is their epic in this EP (10.00) starting with some acoustic chords and evolving througth all the song the vocals are amazing even the lyrics are beautiful. The violin puts on it a great taste of folk music and the celtic sounds are presents here, also the prog elements are here!.

Maybe this short EP could be your enter door to this amazing band indeed, dont listen the critics about them just try their music and judge for yourself. Not prog at all but an amazing EP After this you should to try Jesus de chamberi because every album is a worth listening until their latest album and their peak album in 2003. Just try it! Rock on´

These Spaniards are an absolute blast to listen to,very entertaining to say the least. I've seen them described as Celtic-Metal, and with the flute and prominant violin it makes sense.Take away the violin and this is an easy 4 stars for me. It's not that I don't like violin it's just I prefer my Metal with bass, guitars and drums. Old school. And the violin is all over this album. The vocals are in Spanish and sound great.

"En Un Lugar..." is the short intro track that opens with bagpipes followed by a "battle" sample then flute and violin. It kicks in around a minute with the drums out in front. "El Santo Grial" opens with heavy SABBTH-like guitar with drums. It's uptempo as violin then vocals come in. There is a definite IRON MAIDEN flavour here. Blistering guitar before 3 minutes, violin follows. "La Leyenda De La Mancha" opens with attitude but that changes when the violin arrives. Contrasts continue. Great sound before 2 minutes. "Noche Toledana" is a short instrumental. "Molinas De Viente" is a powerful song with violin and vocals. It does settles before a minute but contrasts continue.

"Dime Con Quien Andas" is laid back as reserved vocals come in. Violin follows. It's heavier before 2 minutes. Nice. It settles 3 minutes in as the guitar solos beautifully. Violin is back. "Maritornes" is uptempo as violin comes and goes. A good rocker. "El Balsame De Fierabras" has this great sounding rhythm like a JUDAS PRIEST tune. Guitar solo 2 minutes in. A fun song. "El Pacto" is mellow as violin comes in. It kicks in around a minute and vocals join in. Guitar solo 3 minutes in. He's lighting it up here. Vocals and violin follow. "La Insula De Barataria" has violin and flute in it. It's heavier 1 1/2 minutes in but it's brief. "El Templo Del Adios" is laid back with violin, vocals and strummed guitar. "Requiem" opens with solo, almost spoken vocals. Synths then drums join in as he starts to sing. This is catchy and it's building. Great sound before 3 minutes. "Ancha Es Castilla" is a mellow tune with picked guitar, violin and reserved vocals. Not a fan.

So a pretty good album that could have been a killer one for my tastes sans violin.

MAGO DE OZ continues to prove me wrong in different ways: on one hand, I used to think of them as a repetitive if-you've-heard-one-song-you've-heard-them-all power metal kind of band, which they clearly aren't, as they add elements of all kinds of music to their sound and create very entertaining power metal songs mixed with folk and even traditional rock n' roll; on the other hand, I used to agree with their status as a prog-metal band. Now I'm not so sure.

Jesus de Chamberi is a metal opera, but unlike other works that share this definition, here we only have one singer who tells us of all the details and the events. An adaptation of Jesus Christ's life to the fiery Spain of MAGO DE OZ, the story is interesting, entertaining, irreverent. The music that accompanies it changes style as easily as the main character changed water into wine: from pure power metal to folk metal to bar-rock n' roll in the blink of an eye. Some songs lack any distinctive elements but some manage to shine through ("Hasta que tu muerte nos separe", "El fin del camino", "Jesus de Chamberi").

The album is uneven and difficult to categorize as progressive since the music is rather very traditional in its form. What could bridge that distance could be the constant addition of elements of different styles of music into one cohesive unity. In the end, Jesus de Chamberi is a very enjoyable work that needs no genre to be appreciated. Not as good as their later Gaia, I'll give it 3 stars over 5.