SERES HUMANOS

One of the last 2012 releases by Azafrán Media was the album "Seres Humanos" by Peruvian act Kharmina Buranna, another band whose work was previously unknown to me. They had already released a debut album in 2008 which I already reviewed by the way, and now in this 2012 they gave birth to a highly acclaimed CD at least in the Latinamerican market. An album that shows the band at their best, with 6 great compositions that make a total time of 52 minutes in which we can enjoy this labyrinth of progressive rock sounds, an eclectic album without a doubt.

It opens with "Pasta mental" whose first minutes are totally introductory, they are opening the gates to their new child, their new album so please enter, sit comfortable and enjoy the music. After two minutes guitars enter and the music becomes a bit heavier, however later keyboards made it lighter, so it is a nice combination between instruments' directions. I like the last minute and the passage with acoustic guitar and nice bass. "Seres humanos", the title-track comes next. A 10-minute song which shows the potential of this band. It starts slowly, with nice keyboards, later soft acoustic guitar and female vocals for the first time; when vocals disappear there is a nice passage with funeral drums over a scheme of keys; the atmosphere changes every minute, but the goal is the same. So the song is flowing, flowing in a soft way with a cool peaceful mood that in moments has to increase its emotions, the only thing you must do is to open your mind to music, as the singer says.

"Sublime muerte" has a delicate start with acoustic guitar, pastoral and beautiful, after a minute and a half electric guitar enters now, but keep with that soft and delicious rhythm and mood. After two minutes drums appear and the music flows once again, now with a rockier style, but never missing that delicate sound; the electric guitar produces an emotional riff that greatly accompanies the track. "10:27" continues with that soft and delicate mood; as a parenthesis, I remember their first CD was full of vertiginous tracks, so this album is different, which means they are open to reinvent themselves when required. Anyways, this track changes after a minute and becomes more interesting, showing their skills as composers and performers, and of course, that always present progressive rock style. This song is interesting, I like how they combine the mood, emotions, atmospheres, rhythms and put them all in one single song.

"Odisea" is a wonderful track, more bombastic than the previous. This is a cool explosion of nuances and rhythms, an intelligent composition without a doubt. I love the powerful beginning with keyboards, guitars and drums creating a good combo, here the progressive rock essence is present all the time; later the song changes, as you can imagine, a darker 4/4 passage appears with a repetitive keyboard rhythm that continues like this for at least 3 minutes more and then the music becomes more powerful, without reaching the metal level, but clearly the heavy prog one. Excellent song, excellent odyssey.

And the album finishes with the epic "Lenguas de trapo" that lasts 17 minutes. The first two and a half minutes are just electric guitar playing in a very soft way, then a short silence and a new structure will appear, now with piano, guitars, bass and drums creating together a musical ensemble that offers first class progressive rock. So the song progresses, shows different passages, like jigsaws that complete a puzzle because each of them are connected and need the other to its success. Later female vocals enter again, I like her voice it suits great with the music, no matter if the background shows the light or hard side of Kharmina Buranna. I like how this track does not really have a clear climax, I mean, it has some explosions like in minute 14, but overall I believe all the passages as equally important, there is not a moment when you say wooow this is the moment, which could be cool or bad, you decide, I like it and that means the music succeeded with me.

Well, this is a very good album by this band from Peru, so I invite you to give it a spin, you will surely have a good experience. Final grade, 4 stars.

Enjoy it!