ALUX NAHUAL

After spinning this a few times I decided to check out opinions and I was shocked to find out that this band is from Guatemala. I thought from the title and the Spanish vocals that they were maybe from Spain but I did not see this coming, that they are from a civil war torn country and despite this these guys became a success. And without compromising their music as they play a complex symphonic style with lots of tempo changes and they are constantly changing things throughout most tracks. So impressive then the vocals for some reason bring RPI to mind, I was just drawn to their sound right away.

They were most active in the 80's starting with their debut in 1980 and releasing six records during that decade including this one "Conquista" the sophomore release from 1981. They released a couple of more albums in the 90's and then a break, then two more in the 00's before the most recent 2023 recording. They became quite popular in the whole of central america singing about topics the locals could relate to and they became a hit on local radio stations despite not playing commercial music at least not on their first several releases apparently. This is consistently good, no weak songs and a large seven piece at this point with a few multi- instrumentalists. Violin and guitar tend to solo the most here especially the violin.

I like that the album's strength to me is the middle section even though the opener and closer are very good I like tracks three to five the most. The opener reveals a band who is extremely proggy as they show their chops and the complexity of the music. Track two is sentimental and really a beautiful piece with the soft vocals and sounds. The closer sort of combines the first two tracks and RPI came to mind in spades during the mellow bits. There's something special about that fourth track "Hoy" my favourite and while the song before it(which is the title track) is almost as impressive and in some ways more so I prefer "Hoy". I should have mentioned we get some sax on this record but more flute and three of them play keyboards too.

I'm still astounded at where they live but more impressed at the talent involved in this adventerous music. Easily 4 stars.

Before talking about the album, I feel I need to bring up some things about the band behind it. Skip two paragraphs if you want to read about the actual album.

This is a band not many people have heard of (I originally found it on a Wikipedia list of prog rock acts), though they played an enormous role in Central America's rock scene in the 80s and onward. Alux Nahual, formed in 1979 by the brothers Plubio and Alvaro Aguilar (on bass guitar and lead vocals/guitar respectively), might be the most important rock act to come out of the small Central American country of Guatemala. Two big reasons they stole people's hearts are the fact that they produced rock sung in the country's native language Spanish which was unusual for the region's music scene at the time, and that their lyrics were very relatable for the country's inhabitants for the time, being tinged with Latin American political and social themes. Interestingly, they had their commercial peak well into their career, playing at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles in 1995.

Their roots are in progressive rock, making use of instruments such as violin, cello and flute and implementing folk elements in their early works. The group originally performed with songs from bands such as Kansas, Led Zeppelin and Toto (you will hear the Kansas influences in their early releases). They moved on to a more straightforward, arena rock-based sound in the late 80s, but continued to be a very important music act in Central America nevertheless. Anyway, let me begin on the album.

The first half of the 80s was not a good time for prog rock in general. Many of the classic prog bands had more or less successfully moved on to pop, or they had broken up entirely. However, that was when the humble little band Alux Nahual from a hidden corner of the world entered the arena with their self-titled debut, in 1981. It never really took off commercially since the local radio stations deemed the songs unfit for playing, so the album had to be spread by mouth. Yet to this day, it remains a hidden gem of progressive rock, which is a real shame since it is arguably a real masterpiece which deserves to be listened to, part of the reason why I am writing this review.

First, let me talk about the album's sound. As I wrote in the third paragraph, Alux Nahual's sound has influences from Kansas, which is especially evident in the heavy use of string instruments such as the violin and the cello The acoustic guitar is an important element, adding elements of folk music to the overall sound. When I listen to music, I do not always think too much about the bass guitar, but this is a special case; instead of creating a foundation for the rest of the song, the bass sounds very melodic and does not hide in the background, which helps create a very bright, upbeat sound. The drums give the sound another Latin American touch, with the toms sounding high-pitched and dull, almost like congas. The band tends to switch between very energetic and balladic playing between songs, creating good contrasts through the entire album. The sound is not overly polished; sometimes the instruments are not perfectly in sync, and sometimes the tempo even changes a few BPM, all resulting in a very raw, genuine sound.

Let me move on to the actual songs. The album commences with the energetic, symphonic instrumental piece "Cola de Golondrina" (3:57), built around a reoccuring violin melody and a hard-slapping bass tune. The song gets enriched by the acoustic guitar duet starting about one third into the track. It even features two wild guitar solos in the second half of the song, adding another touch of rock to the otherwise symphonic and folky song. Overall, a great introduction to a great album by a great band.

The second song, A Ti (4:05), begins more laid-back, sounding much like a love song (the title even meant "to you"). A violin accompanied by a cello plays a delightful, balladic melody over a rhythmic but mellow acoustic guitar riff. The harmonies in the choruses really help bring out the romantic feeling from the song. The tempo increases after two and a half minutes, and slows down in the outro after yet another minute. The song stands amazingly against the more lively opening track, but is also simply an amazing song on its own.

Un Poco De Paz (3:19) is another pretty calm song (even the name apparently means "a little peace") which sticks to the same flow and feeling throughout the entire song, like a tranquil beach with waves slowly rolling up on the sand. The string work, acoustic guitar and slow tempo puts this song in ballad territory, however, the rhythmic arrangements keep themselves in the foreground a lot. A great song regardless of what you want to call it.

Un Minuto de Ilusión (7:19) might be the proggiest track on the entire album, spanning over 7 minutes and frequently switching between mood and tempo. First, you have a soothing piano intro getting accompanied by a cello around the one minute mark, and half a minute later the tempo and energy increases and all the other instruments join in. You can say the actual song begins at around 2:15, at which moment the song's energy decreases, with the vocals coming in twenty seconds later. This part of the song lasts until the four minute mark, where the song becomes very energetic again, a mood that will last for the rest of the track. I could not talk about this song without praising the amazing bass solo coming in at 5:53, or the brief drum solo in the end as the cherry on top. I would call this song a highlight on the album and a perfect finisher of the A-side.

The B-side is opened up by the soothing "La Fabula del Grillo y el Mar" (5:57). The title means "the tale of the cricket and the sea" (according to Google Translate), and the reason I bring this up is that you hear a cricket singing and the sounds of crashing waves making the acoustic guitar company in the intro. This helps set the mood for the song, sounding incredibly romantic throughout its whole duration. Its feeling revolves a lot around the aforementioned acoustic guitar as well as the atmospheric string arrangements and the beautiful vocals. Judging by its mood, I expected it to be a love song before I knew what the title and lyrics meant. Putting the lyrics through Google Translate made me appreciate the song even more, revealing it to be what I assume is a political allegory represented with a cricket singing to the sea but getting no reaction from it. Lastly, I heavily recommend checking out the symphonic live version of the song on Youtube.

"Posada" (4:07) is in a similar case as "Un Poco De Paz", with a slow tempo and mellow melodies but with a drum arrangement that takes up a lot of space. That is, though, the part that I love the very most about the song, especially the heavy use of cowbells gives the song a big Latino touch. I also have to appreciate the acoustic guitar solo over a 4/7 beat in the second half of the song.

The closer "Hombres de Maíz" (7:23) might just be the best song on the entire album, which I say even after calling every other song amazing. It masterfully ties the sack together with very energetic and upbeat compositions almost impossible not to dance to. From the sections of intense strumming on the guitar to the rich percussion and the vocals, it is really hard to pick what I love the most about the song. Out of curiosity, I gave the lyrics the Google Translate treatment and discovered another brilliant side of the song I would have not paid attention to otherwise. The lyrics seem to be about living a life without a care for the government or the air pollution and instead appreciating the simple things about life. The title which means "Men of corn" might be a reference to the Mayan myth about the gods creating humans out of corn, which is very relevant to the band's Guatemalan origins. And that concludes Alux Nahual's debut album.

To finish off the review, as I said before, part of the reason why I am writing it in the first place is to make it more known about. I am very glad I discovered it myself, even more so for the fact that a pretty obscure album made it to the top 15 list of my all time favorite albums. If you like bands like Kansas and Jethro Tull, this album is an absolute must, and if you like it, you should check out their follow-up "Conquista" and the following two albums (if you can find them, they are sadly not available on Spotify). They never stopped making good music though, and I recommend checking out their non-prog material such as "Alto al Fuego".

10/10.

One of Central America's most successful rock bands, ALUX NAHUAL was formed in Guatemala City, Guatemala in 1979 by brothers Alvaro Aguilar (acoustic guitar) and Plubio Aguilar (bass) along with their cousin Ranferi Aguilar (acoustic and electric guitars) soon to be followed by drummer Javier Flores, cellist Paulo Alvarado and violinist Jack Schuster. Flores would then be replaced by Orlando Aguilar before this band's debut release. The early endeavors of the band were to perform covers of 70s classic rock acts like Kansas, Led Zeppelin, Toto and other bands that added symphonic touches that bordered on prog rock however ALUX NAHUAL would soon move into original music that would become progressive folk tinged rock. The band's name means "The Spirit of Music" in the indigenous Mayan language which is fitting because Spanish rock was frowned upon in the 70s given the Latin cultures dynamic and energetic music forms that include salsa, merengue, marimba and cumbia just to name a few.

Given these roadblocks for rock on Latin American radio stations mostly due to the English language dominating the genre, ALUX NAHUAL recorded its own unique style of progressive folk rock that contained lyrics exclusively in Spanish and after a few years of becoming a popular live act was signed to a local record company and once this self-titled debut hit the market, the audience responded with enthusiasm as the band became an instant hit and has enjoyed a long and prosperous career ever since becoming popular in not only Central America but all throughout the Spanish speaking world, As a result ALUX NAHUAL is known as the band that broke down the doors that allowed rock music to expand into a part of the world where it had not gained the popularity as it had in English speaking nations as well as Europe.

While ALUX NAHUAL was considered a rock band by many, it was not a typical sort of rock band by any means. Along with the usual instrumentation of guitars, bass, keyboards and drums were the unlikely sounds created by the violin and cello. While all lyrics were sung in Spanish, there are very few references to the musical styles of any Spanish speaking countries except for a small amount of flamenco here and there. In fact when the album starts, the opening track "Cola de Golondrina" sounds more like a rock version of an Irish jig with its busy violin runs screeching up and down the scales along with a heavy drum presence and catchy dance melody however on the second track "A Tí" things slow down a bit and the mood changes more to the symphonic prog sounds of Argentina from such classic bands as Crucis, Alas and Invisible only ALUX NAHUAL crafts it all with more accessible pop melodic hooks and keeps the proggy aspects firmly under control.

"Hombres de Maiz" shifts again to a more rocking sound with funky electric guitars and hyperactive violin parts that channel the Mahavishnu Orchestra's best Jerry Goodman. The album is really all over the place as the following "La Fabula del Grillo y el Mar" which reverts back to a lush folky ballad that is perhaps the most awkwardly corny of the album. Perhaps a single? I don't know but it kind of feels out of place. Tracks like "Posada" and "Un Poco de Paz" offer more proggy workouts. Using acoustic prog folk as the canvass to paint upon, the violin and cello add interesting counterpoints and the intricate rhythmic complexities create some of the most interesting tracks on the album for those seeking the more prog oriented sounds. The album comes off an eclectic batch of tracks that were obviously formed at different stages but still must've sounded like a breath of fresh air for a region of the world unaccustomed to such musical styles commingling without a touch of the local flavors included.

ALUX NAHUAL's first album really sounds like no other that i've heard. The influences of English speaking classic rock and symphonic prog can be detected but the mix of folk and the classical elements such as violin and cello give this debut a flavor unlike any other. Straddling the line between the accessibilities of folk fueled rock music with controlled elements of more sophisticated prog, ALUX NAHUAL took the region by storm and this album literally sold out within days which was a huge shock to the music industry which erroneously assumed that Latin rock was of little interest to the public. Everything changed with this album but despite the success of this album it has never seen a reissue beyond the original vinyl LP that was printed in 1981. This is a fascinating slice of proggy folk rock from a region of the world where you would never suspect such a style of music would be able to emerge from.

A huge step into experimentation and quality

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.

— First review of this album —

The symphonic grandiosity with meaning and feeling

Alux Nahual, as a Crossover Rock band it's a blend of symphonic, alternative rock and some acoustic pop styles. Their success is based on their diversity that just feels accurate to each level. With this production, Alux dressed their songs in their best suits, making music and sense all together in the right doses.

Nine songs have special arrangements and offers way more than just an adaptation of parts for strings and orchestral drums. No, you have here a dedicated effort on making each track memorable and accurate to the tone, to the meaning and to the feeling. The result is a one hour experience full of nice details and twists and turns.

You can tell that the band is enjoying playing and is evident that the Director of the Orchestra feel the roll, not just playing a job in a concert. It's really a great way to "get" Alux Nahual music, on it's finest moment, until now, because they recently recorded a third symphonic concert and it sounded way better than this one. The only let down of this productions is how short it is. The left out at least other seven songs and just leave you waiting for more music.

All in all, I truly encourage you all to go on and give it a try on iTunes or Deezer. You won't regret on this one. Lovers of both symphonic prog and orchestra oriented kind of music will hear some great music, full of emotion and meaning. 4 strong stars.

— First review of this album —

This is the only live performance officially released by Alux Nahual. It was recorded during their 18th anniversary concert in the legendary venue of National Theater "Miguel Angel Asturias" in 1998. The band split soon after this presentation and the release was on standby for almost five years. Finally, in 2002 the band get together especially for two nights shows in which they presented this long awaited album. Since then, the album is only available in their live shows, not in stores.

The album contains 14 songs performed live, most of them with special arrangements made for that particular show. First of all, it contains the essential "hits" of their 80's material all of them with the extra energy of their fans singing from start to finish each and every song. From their famous ballads "Mujer", "Libre Sentimiento", "Lo que siento por Ti" and "Hoy" to their heavy rock anthems "Alto al Fuego" and "Como un Duende" in which the message of the songs, enforced by the 2 thousand fans voices took the performance to a complete new level.

Through a live performance you can appreciate better the quality of musicians, the maturity of the songs and the complexness of the different textures, structures and polyphony these musicians can construct to take the audience into an intimate ambient. Cellos, flaute, sax and even marimba merged with regular rock instruments to build up and impressive performance, depth and meaningful. The epic symphonic songs are the ones that shined the most in this production. "La Fábula", "Hombres de Maíz" and "Conquista" sounded great and powerful with the help of the String Ensemble Orchestra. Besides, they invited former drummers Pablo Mayorga and Orlando Aguilar to perform one song each and Lester Godinez, a total legend of the marimba made a collaboration in the song "Toca Viejo".

The sound and postproduction is just great. You hear enough of the crowd but never overshadowing the bands performance. The only bad thing about the production is the limitation of only a single CD, when Alux plays for more than two hours, there are several "hits" missed in the production that were played in the show and that could have space in a double CD album. I think to save some costs they decided not to do it. We will have to wait then.

To fulfill the goal of making of this album a MOST HAVE for the fans, the band included the biography of the band by famous journalist Haroldo Sanchez within a 34 pages booklet, including photographs of the whole career of Alux Nahual.

This is really a great relic, an impressive proof of the level of quality that a professional band can achieve and now, almost 12 years after they are still growing in quality and fan base. Next December will be out a new DVD of the band commemorating their 31th anniversary. Until then, this album will be played several times. 4 stars. Any prog fan would appreciate this jewel.

Excellent production... not their best music...

This is their 9th studio album and their last one as well. It was 1996 and they have change a lot during all this years. His most emblematic member, Paulo Alvarado ,quit the band before they get to the studio, so all their symphonic elements are gone with him, so this is their most Alternative pop-rock album, but it has a lot of interesting elements as well but it's very evident that the members are not so interested in a group achievement, so this is their most wide oriented album, that shows their different styles each one of them have choose to go... at the end the album leaves a very bittersweet taste in my mouth... it's good, but it's sad at the same time... so, lets see...

The Goods: the albums starts with their last radio anthem, one of the most heavy and singable songs they compose in the vibe of "Como un Duende" and "Alto al Fuego", "Con Todas tus Fuerzas" is a strong song with great lyrics and with enough space to all instruments to develop great, seems like a perfect song, with enough instrumentation and very radio friendly, just great. But the great following to this song just never happened.

Oscar Conde cover the emptyness of Paulo Alvarado, and gives three rock'n'roll songs in the vibe of the old fashion Alux Nahual... well, there are not symphonic elements on the songs, those are more oriented to alternative rock sound, but are odd and rare enough to stand in a little proggy vibe. "Tren de Media Noche", "Tráfico Gris" and "Canción de Juan" are the ones to hear in this album. this last one track is the only pure prog song and it's the best clousure to the whole discography of Alux. The song starts with a sad and melancholic flaute with an acoustic guitar as an intro, then breaks in the main song with a full band structure with acoustic guitars, many flautes solos, percussion and heavy guitar riffs. The songs goes in this folk-rock-andine vibe in a fast tempo with great and fresh sound. After a swift in the tempo the songs changes and become and moody ambient song, retaking the intro's theme, and become a power ballad with a bass solo, a very melodic and sad chorus and then a guitar solo, a repited chorus and the end of the song... an amazing song.

The other highlight of the album it's a strange collaboration between the two main songwriters of the band... it's show that they are not interested anymore in sharing ideas but the manage to work together in one song "Miguel Matabachas". The song is short and very alternative, but the vibe of the band, and the understanding of each musician working together is great and it's good for the album.

Now, the bads: when one of the best songwriters of the last decade, Alvavo Aguilar, bring out 8 tracks and non of them is memorable enough to get a single or some recongnition, you can said it's bad luck; but when you see that this songwriter, who is a great acoustic guitar player put aside his guitar and start using a lot of layering synth-pop keyboards, you can start worring about... and then, you see that his songs are nothing but pop oriented tracks and he didn't give too much room to the rest of the instruments, you get that there's something wrong about this...

The other big songwriter, Ranferí, gives 4 tracks, all of them are great, but three of them are just power ballads, very popy and minimalistic. those three tracks could fit great with his first solo album better than with Alux. So, these 11 songs are really not a band ensamble which is what Alux is known about for. So, It's so evident that the band members were not interested in collab anymore and that's one of the reasons of their split a few years after this realase...

In the other hand, the sound quality is the very best of all their career and even today is one of the best sound to any Latin American band can achieve... the name of the album means something like "Singing portraits" so, the booklet has a particular design or portrait for each song so it's nice to see the effort the label put in the production, which is great... so, 3 stars because it has it's lights and shadows, and that sad bittersweet taste knowing that it's their last production... we are expecting something more, there is 14 years since this album so... we are still waiting for some special issue or a rarities compilation...

A boxset... great idea to get their first 6 LPs. The name of this always makes me laugh. It means "From the beggining to the End" and it is not by any means... well, from the beggining, yes, here we have their first albums, but we don't have not even their last LP on the DIDECA era "Leyenda" even less their other two albums recorded with Sony Music. Less, we don't have also the non comercial EP "Con tus Manos" published in 1988 and only 200 copies in vynil. A complete raritie on their discography...

The box said that it's a remastered version, but I found that a couple of the albums are not remastered, and I have the little suspicious that they mix the old albums with the new remastered versions. But well, DIDECA was a very short minded label, now it's gone, maybe because of it's own mediocracy but well, now we can get this boxset through "Jaguar Record", which has published the same compilations, just altering a little bit the covers of the albums with an awful filter which gives the impression of a cheaper material...

After all this inside, I think this is a perfect package for new fans, or for those who have older material or only the vynil records, so you can safe those and give this a spin... the complete material, just as you can find it separately... so, there's no bonus, nor extras, nor nothing... but is a good way to get the complete material... the rest of the DIDECA era is out there so this is a good idea... shame that we are still waiting for some obscure archives or maybe demo versions... but well... 3 stars for the plenty material we get...

— First review of this album —

Another compilation, the 5th one...!!! now we don't have hits, just random material, little more progressive but with no specific order at all...

I don't understand how this people decide the order of the songs, I feel that's my biggest problem... If the Antología 1 was wrong because they even chop the songs to fit into an 80 minutes limit, in this the music doesn't reach to 60 minutes, how they decide it...??? it wasn't better to leave two songs out of the first compilation and include those here...? don't know but well, let's see...

The 12 songs from Alux are OK taken from 5 of the 7 LPs they have in their DIDECA era. It would be nice if they include a couple of songs from their first album and they have enough space to include a song from their EP "Con Tus Manos" but again, we remain with more of the same... most of the songs were already published in the "Leyenda II" compilation, with the exception of "El Retorno de la Alegría", "Concierto al Fin", "El Loco", "En el Camino" and "Torres de Papel". The material is resmastered, but the sound quality is not as good as in the first Antología. I found that this production is not that cohessive than Leyenda and Antología 1. The songs seems not to fit together nor in the order they put it. Five or six songs are memorable with good symphonic arrangements, but if you already have the original albums you don't need this. So, this is again a good but forgetable and unneeded compilation.

As well as the other Antología, the album came in a nice cardboard box with nice and shining colours. They made another nice booklet with the same text than the first Antologia but use different pictures and even material. This is make up, sure, but it's nice.

Finally, we have two bonus tracks. Well, this songs are Alux Nahual covers that other Central American bands played and recorded for two tribute albums. Both were the singles with good acceptation in the audience. Both are the farther away from progressive possible. Most the tributes are their symphonic songs rip off and converted into plain alternative songs, but at the end, these two songs are very comercial and nice. So, at least you can get the most decent covers inside this rare compilation. The songs are not bad, but don't be a shadow from the original... so... again, good and bad at the same time... Two stars is fair... just for fans or collectors...

— First review of this album —

We are celebrating the 30th anniversary from Alux Nahual, so I found myself very pleased to continue the reviews from this amazing and historic Guatemalan symphonic band. So, well, this is the fourth compilation the label bring out in less than 10 years, maybe too much but it has it goods and bads, so lets see...

Finally we have a remastered material (that's a good thing) so the sound is improved and is very welcome. The bad thing is that they practically chop three songs, just to make it an 18 songs compilation instead of 15 songs. I don't know anyone who can appriciate a 7+ minutes song being abruptally cut into a 4 minutes song leaving the whole instrumental part out, just awful. The other two songs suffer as well and is very sad that the producers didn't respect the songs.

The songs sellection is very obvious, the 15 hits Alux Nahual had in their first 7 LP albums plus three more random songs. This is a DIDECA compilation, so there are no hits from the the last decade in which Alux Nahual were with Sony Music. Another negative thing, because it's just more of the same. This is the third time we have those 15 songs publish in a compilation so, this is only required by new fans 'cause all the material have being already publish several times.

On the goods we can put as well the effort they put in the production. Finally we get a decent booklet, with a few band photographs and a little text describing the music style and even a cardboard box and inside we found the traditional plastic CD box. They even use a new nice design so, at least this is an improve over the other compilations.

So, recommended for the remastered versions, but the awful chops on particular songs really let down the production. Only for collectors and fans, or maybe for new listeners... just hits, no too much progressive material here. 2 stars is fair.