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The Mexicans released a demo in 2002 and now with a different line-up singer Alonso Cano is back with their debut album Arcanos Abismos. Two songs of the demo Leprycorn made it onto the debut.
The opening track is Lucha Eterna and starts slowly... Then a choir, then the band get in with heavy riffs and hammering drums. After the introducing part the song speeds up and shows beside traditional riffing some leads and keyboard lines. Singer Alonso Cano is offering different timbres which is a step forward compared with the demo. With almost 7 minutes the track is quite long, but with breaks and speed changes they keep the listeners interest. Towards the end the choir is back for a moment, good idea. Then they present the title track Arcanos Abismos. A balladesque opening and delicate vocals from Cano, but when the band joins in it gets a bit more powerful... And then speedy. The drums sound is a bit muddy... But okay, the sound is better balanced then on their demo. And the five-some show more variety, but still there are reminiscences to the Scandinavian melodic speed metal bands - especially the keyboard parts. In my opinion Alonso Cano is more powerful when using a deeper timbre and that's what he's doing here mainly. Well done.
Sueños is one of the tracks taken from the demo and it seems they overdone it, even if the bridge between the classical intro part and the speedier main part is not perfect. This time I would recommend to overdo the backing vocals... Arcadia is an instrumental intermezzo and leads into Vientos de olvido. The track is another fast one, but heavier. Here Cano sings a bit higher, but it's still okay. Keyboarder Eric Fuentes shows here is skills in fast keyboard lines. The other demo track is Obertura del guerrero. Here they changed a few things to it seems to me, but the vocals are still a bit too high and so don't have enough power. Luckily Cano gets back to the deeper timbre with Hacia nuevos mares. A heavy, riff-based rock is Prisionero, but the keyboard takes off the edge a bit. The vocal line is pretty good, but they should have reduced the instrumental parts a bit to give the voice space. With piano Cronos starts and is with 1:18 minutes a short instrumental piece which is dominated by Fuentes' keyboards.
Guarnerius improved since the release of the demo, perhaps the new line-up did them good.... There is a larger variety of sounds and speeds, the vocals are a bit deeper and more emotional. If you are into melodic speed metal and then give it a chance. Not a masterpiece, but a decent album!
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