I said in the last review that this list is taking us all over the world, and so it is. Today we find ourselves in beautiful sunny Argentina. Now surprisingly I have heard one other prog rock band from this country, featured in fact in my journal a year or more back, the rather wonderful Apocalypse, and I was very impressed by them. They however hailed from the capital, whereas these guys come from, I’m told, Rosario, which is apparently a small suburb of Santa Fe, about 200 kilometres north of Buenos Aires.
Láquesis --- Láquesis
I don’t know for certain, but I am pretty sure that the name of this band is either a translation in their native Spanish of, or a reference to, the three Fates in mythology who were said to guide the lives of humans. The Greeks called them the Morae, the Romans the Parcae and the Norse the Norns, but in all cases they were represented by three women, one very young, one middle-aged and one old. The youngest, Lachesis, was she who spun the thread out of which men’s lives were fashioned. Clothos, the middle one, wove the thread and Atropos, the crone, cut it when it was time for someone to die (hence the term atrophy). My theory is supported by the fact that the closing track is a suite, divided in four, called “Las Moiras” (close huh?) and does indeed contain three movements which refer to the figures above. Not to mention that they’re looking out at you from the album sleeve!
Anyway, whatever the case, this is probably obviously the first effort from Láquesis the band, who have been together since … um, I don’t know. As with most South American music, details are hard to come by. Even if the band happens to have a website (which these don’t appear to) chances are it will be in Spanish anyway, but I’m told they have been together for a number of years. It certainly shows in the close-knit performances and the sometimes almost telepathic understanding between the five-piece, and what results appears to be something of a revelation, and a find in modern prog not often happened across.
A nice hard guitar starts off “Efecto placebo” (translation anyone?)
and it then settles down into a nice sort of laidback guitar and synth line with some lovely relaxed percussion. Rather surprisingly, the vocal when it comes in is in English. It’s not that I haven’t heard “foreign” bands use English in their lyrics, but considering the title is in Spanish I thought … well anyway, singer Martin Puntonet has a very engaging voice, very calming and soothing and the backing vocals work very well too. The guitar work of Guillermo Caminer is special and Diego Actis on the keys gives a boppy, Supertramp-style feel to the music, then switches into full eighties Marillion mode.
There are only technically six tracks on this album, with the final one being a suite of four parts, but nothing is wasted here, not one note. A super slick little guitar solo from Caminer leads us into militaristic drumming from Martin Teglia and a powerful guitar and synth ending, taking us into “Tema X”, on atmospheric keys joined by a dramatic little guitar passage and the first appearance of the Hammond from Actis. Gives the music a great seventies feel without dragging it back to that decade (Are you listening, members of The Watch?) and keeping it fresh and contemporary. This track is instrumental and very much a workout for Actis as his fingers fly over the keys, culminating in a soft little piano piece to which Caminer adds some gorgeous guitar work. “Hamacamatic” has a great latin sound to it, as you might perhaps expect though it hasn’t been that prevalent so far that you’d notice. Another instrumental, this one is much longer, clocking in at over eight minutes and allowing Caminer his head but still very keyboard-driven. Faster than the previous with a real sense of jamming in it. Some almost AOR keyboards lead into a real workout for all band members.
A soft and yearning keyboard line takes us into “Puestas del sol”, with some expressive guitar and gentle percussion, picking up a little in the third minute with the addition of tubular bells and choral vocals. Gets a bit bluesy in the seventh minute --- it runs for just over twelve --- and I hear real echoes of twenty-first century Marillion here, especially on “Happiness is the road”. Turns into a Tony Banks solo-style piano tune near the end then ramps up for the big ending with a fine solo from Caminer.
“Lemuria” has a gentle acoustic guitar opening, and only the second vocal track. Throwing me completely though Puntonet this time sings in Spanish. Nice addition of flute and there’s a neoclassical piano interlude from Actis halfway through which then turns into a keyboard solo and leads into one on the guitar as the tune speeds up a little and gets more “hard progressive” as it were. That brings us to the closer, the four-part suite that Láquesis call “Las Moiras”. The first movement is hard guitar and jumping synth which opens “Láquesis” itself, rocking along faster than the band have up to now but slows down near the end on Gilmouresque guitar from Caminer and soft lush synth from Actis. I suppose if my analogy is correct, this is supposed to represent the start of life.
“Cloto” then comes in on solo piano that then metamorphoses into a big keyboard fanfare as the tempo jumps up, percussion now joining in and guitar fitting in around the edges, but definitely a vehicle for Diego Actis until Ariel Lozar comes in with some truly exceptional bass work. Laidback acoustic guitar from Caminer takes us into the third movement, “Atropos”, where one would assume our unknown hero faces his or her death, and the oldest of the Fates begins to cut the thread of their life. It’s an uptempo, almost panicky keyboard arpeggio for the first minute before it settles down slightly into its own groove, allowing Caminer to take the tune with a searing solo of his own, the piece returning to the slow relaxed tone of the first movement as we head towards the final part.
“Requiem” brings everything to a close with soft string-like keys, a darker, moodier theme and a kind of medieval sound with the bass sounding like a heartbeat as the keys work busily away, chugging guitar coming in from Caminer as the piece begins to reach its climax and he slams everything into overdrive with an almost metal solo, low choral vocals adding into the mix before the movement, the suite and indeed the album comes to a most satisfying close.
TRACKLISTING
1. Efecto placebo
2. Tema X
3. Hamacamatik
4. Puestas del sol
5. Lemuria
6. Las Moiras -- Suite
I: Láquesis
II: Cloto
III: Atropos
IV: Requiem
This is an interesting album for many reasons. Like last week’s reviewed Ka
rfagen, the thing is mostly instrumental and features only two vocal tracks but unlike “Aleatorica”, there are two different languages employed on those tracks. The musicianship is superb, again perhaps surprising though it probably should not be; but progressive rock bands from South America, particularly Argentina, aren’t exactly spilling out of my record collection. These guys are good! It’s also interesting because although Láquesis pay their dues to the giants of progressive rock --- Yes, Camel, Genesis --- as well as some of the more recent additions (I hear Marillion, Pendragon, Big Big Train in there too) --- they never make the mistake of imitating them, as some other bands have. These five Argentines have their own, very distinctive sound.
The wealth of talent displayed here makes me wonder if I shouldn’t be checking further into the music of this country, if not the entire continent? But before I do that, I have another ninety-five albums on this list to process, so I guess that will have to wait for the moment. As for now, I think it’s fair to award this album, given that it’s a debut and sounds so polished, yet not a production monster, a solid
7/10.