ESPACIOS

‘Espacios’ is the second and presumably final album from Ave Rock. This one moves closer to the symphonic mold than the band’s first album did, but really the strength of the band’s variety earns them an unqualified Art Rock label.

The opening “Pausa En Espacios” starts off a just bit discordant, not unlike King Crimson or any of the scores of other bands who were blown away by ‘In the Court…’, but more understated with these guys, and the Hammond plays the major role here. As with the debut there is heavy emphasis on guitar (particularly in the first half of the song amid the somewhat weighty minor keyboard chords. I believe the intent here was to deliver a symphonic composition; whether the band succeeded is a matter of personal taste I suppose.

“En El Universo” has a distinctly bluesy guitar riff that persists, along with an almost jazzy timbre. This actually reminds me quite a bit of Salem Hill, who in turn remind me a bit of some of ELP’s more approachable works. And so it goes. The vocals are a bit of a distraction though.

The piano on “Surcos En El Aire” wins points with me right away. I’ve always felt there is too much emphasis on Hammond, ARP, and mellotron when one thinks of Symphonic Rock bands; piano has that acoustically resonant quality to it that really makes the various scale progressions really sound poignant. Once again I don’t think the vocals are very good, but this is a symphonic composition – lots of tempo changes that fit together quite well, at least three different types of keyboards that I can discern, all very prominent. Again the band shows a strong leaning toward guitar as well, although here there are psychedelic influences as well as the blues.

This is a very good band whose reputation seems to have been made mostly in our southern hemisphere. Like their first album I don’t think this qualifies as a masterpiece, but it is quite good, and to placate a restrictive rating system I feel the need to mark this as four stars.

peace