No matter what country you look into there seems to be a glut of metal bands there. Yeah, I'm sure if I clicked Lichtenstein I'd find a few ... in fact, let's do that right now, for the craic. Wow. Eleven bands. Even if half of them are split up that means there's statistically more metal bands in Lichtenstein than there are taxis! Hope they don't all try to hail the same one at the end of a gig! But enough slagging of this tiny principality: should they ever enter Eurovision I'll certainly pounce on them for my “Eurovision Hell” slot. But for now, it just serves to prove a point. Like a disease everyone wants to catch, or a forest fire racing across the world, unstoppable, unquenchable, remorseless, metal is everywhere. And so when I tried to look up Spanish metal bands I was confronted by pages and pages of them, as indeed I was with the other two countries I've checked out so far.
Why do I tell you this? To forestall any whining about bands seen as “critical” to Spanish metal who I end up ignoring, not using or not even knowing about. I only have so much time, you know. And as for bands I know and have heard of --- Saratoga, Dark Moor, Cain's Dinasty --- I'm avoiding them, as this is supposed to be an exploration of bands I have never heard, or heard of. Which brings me to our second example. Admittedly, Barón Rojo were a must: you could no more ignore them when looking into Spanish metal than you could pass over Maiden if you were doing England, or Stratovarius if it was Finland you wanted to check out. But after them I didn't know where to turn, and so, Batty having proven strangely unknowledgeable about metal bands from Spain, I checked out some “top lists” and saw some other anonymous loser bleat “Tierra Santa is the shizzz!” (though with more z's than that) and thought,
fuck it, why not?
And so here we are.
Formed in 1997, Tierra Santa (Holy land?) have been around the block a few times. They have nine albums to their credit, not including live and also two compilations, and have appeared on tribute records to Iron Maiden, Led Zep and even Barón Rojo themselves. This is their fourth album.
Sangre de reyes --- Tierra Santa --- 2001 (Locomotive)
The good thing about Spanish is that, although I learned very little of it in school, it's not that hard to decipher basic phrases. Oh, I could never speak nor understand it, but I can take a pretty good stab at what short sentences mean. The title above, I'm sure you'll have worked out, is “blood of the kings”, and we get started with “David y el gigante”, which surely must be “David and the giant”, or to put it another way, David and Goliath. Dark thunder presages an ominous beginning but then soft tinkly piano is the first instrument we hear, and so we are introduced to Paco, who does the keyboards, nothing else. Throaty bass and guitar swirl in now as Roberto Gonzalo and Arturo Mallas respectively make their presence known, backed by drummer Iñaki Fernández as vocalist Ángel San Juan completes the quintet. And has he some set of pipes!
The song rockets along on a real Iron Maiden footing (sorry, but it does!) and though I have no idea what they're singing about I expect it may be that Biblical contest between boy and giant, or it could be a metaphor for something else. Either way it's damn impressive. As is “La ciudad secreta” (gotta be “Secret city”) which runs along on the driving rhythms of Fernández's drumkit, with San Juan's vocal a little more aggressive but still very clear. Great hook in the song, and I wonder how well known Tierra Santa are in their native country? On the strength of even these first two tracks they deserve to be famous. Again, “Pegaso” needs no translating, and gallops along like the very horse of legend, flying effortlessly through the air on the twin guitars as the drums reverberate like the mighty horse's white wings. Great sort of choir adding backing vocals, but the standout is Mallas's (or is it San Juan's?) steaming guitar solo near the end. Epic.
This band seem to have a great interest in myths and legends and incorporate them into their lyrics. We've already had the story of David and Goliath (whether it was an allegory or not), Pegasus and now we hear the tale of “Juana del Arco”, with some expressive keyboards and a galloping drumbeat. It very much sounds like there's a female vocal in there, let me check: yeah, there are two, Alicia Arguiñano and Mariví Echaniz. Great song, though it seems over too soon and we're into “La sombra de la bestia”, which I think is “the sleep of the beast”. That could be anything really, from a dragon in a cave to a gorgon or something more esoteric and cerebral , so I'll have to just leave it at that. It's another fast hard rocker, with again more input from Paco's keyboards, which have been sort of conspicuous by their absence up to now, at least I haven't heard them since the opener. This song, too, has one hell of a hook in it, and there's no doubt Tierra Santa know how to write catchy melodies while still remaining heavy as hell. Smoking guitar solo really fleshes the song out and San Juan's vocals are pinpoint precise, even if I could not tell you what he's singing. Does it matter? With music this good, no it does not. Music speaks its own language, metal even more so and you certainly don't need to understand the lyrics to be able to enjoy these songs.
Man, for a song over five minutes long that finished really quickly! Conversely, the next one is very short, in fact the shortest track on the album at just over two, to lead us into the next track. “Dos vidas (Prologo la Armada)” is a slow, swaying ballad that means, I think, “two lives (prologue to the armada)” and features some very accordion-like synth from Paco, with acoustic guitar from Mallas keeping the tone very gentle and relaxed. Of course then the track it precedes is a fast powerful, heads-down, kick-the-walls-down rocker which reminds me in places of Maiden's “Back in the village”. I assume the armada they're singing about is not the sixteenth century one that attacked England, as that was beaten and almost destroyed. Could be something to do with the Trojan War? Hell, could be anything. Who cares? Just shake that head man!
More incredible solos from the guys and again it drives along on the piledriver drumming of Iñaki Fernández, and again it's over far too quickly. One thing I do notice about Ángel San Juan is that he never needs to scream, or even really raise his voice to be heard over the music. He just seems to be a natural singer and takes it all in his stride. After all the death growls, grunts, screams and hisses I've endured in the last while it's nice to hear someone who can sing effortlessly and doesn't grate on my ears. “El laberinto del minotauro” surely retells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, and features the return of the two ladies on backing vocals. It's nowhere near as fast as “La armada invencible”, but it's still upbeat and powerful, and Paco's keyboards play a big part in the melody. The Maiden influence comes through on the “Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh!” in the bridge: guess they just can't help themselves, but I won't hold it against them.
Is there a ballad on the album? Glad you asked. Yes. Yes there is. And it comes in the form of “El amor de mi vida” (love of my life), driven by the soft piano of Paco and a gentle vocal from San Juan, strings synth joining the melody and carrying it through the first verse. Soft, bouncy percusson comes in then, with guitar fading into the mix and nice backing vocals adding a touch of colour too. Very passionate vocal, but again even when singing about his lover, or his broken heart, or whatever the hell he's singing about, San Juan hardly seems to break a sweat. Guitar solo in the mould of Poison's “Every rose has its thorn” or G'n'R's “November rain”, and the girls are back to add their underused talent to the song. I'd say one of the standouts, but to be fair there are no bad tracks on this album, at least so far.
“Mi tierra” (my land) hops everything back up to ten with a big guitar and keyboard opening and then rocks along like there's no tomorrow, and then the title track closes an album that has been pretty much amazing all the way through, a real revelation and a future favourite (looking to purchase their music as I type). “Sangre de reyes” has a big, powerful guitar to open it, then just kicks the gates open and runs for it, blazing a trail of quality and energy behind it as it goes, disappearing over the Spanish hills and leaving me wanting more, more, more!
TRACKLISTING
1. David y la gigante
2. La ciudad secreta
3. Pegaso
4. Juana de Arco
5. La sombra de la bestia
6. Dos vidas (Prologo la Armada)
7. La Armada Invencible
8. El laberinto del minotauro
9. El amor de mi vida
10. Mi tierra
11. Sangre de reyes
I'm sure they won't thank me for saying this, and it's really not fair, but if you're looking for a Spanish version of Iron Maiden you really need look no further than Tierra Santa. They have it all. They have obviously grown up listening to the music of one of the biggest and most popular metal bands on the planet, and while they certainly do not ape or copy Bruce and the boys, there's no getting away from the influence Maiden have had on this band. But Tierra Santa also have their own identity, and their talent for writing catchy hooks into powerful metal songs takes some beating.
Mind you, it is rumoured that they have a mascot called Eduardo.... Just kidding. Am I? Maybe. Or maybe not.