Vitruvius is a young progressive metal band from Mexico. Female fronted band, Dulce Robles has a pleasant voice whom integrates very well in the music, but the cherry on the cake here is the instrumental passages, who really kick ass on every piece. From the opening track Stealing a Tear From the Rain, the listener will know that something great will appear in the almost 1 hour music. Excellent musicianship, even the song writing is ok, but nothing really new under the sun, only pleasant with some amazing passages, specially the twin guitar of Oskar Villarreal and Tonio Tejeda. The drumming is more then ok, some great chops made by Ronnie Rodriguez worth to be investigated on this first release of Vitruvius. The interplay between musician is excellent, just take a listen to the instrumental track Alchemist , simply great, and of course the rest of the passages, another worthy moments are on opening track or in the last piece Black Sphere divided in 2 parts, the first one is atmospheric with spacey moments , while the second parts, is a great ex of how must sound progressive metal these days. Line-up / Musicians Oskar Villarreal/Guitars Ronnie Rodriguez/Drums Dulce Robles/Vocals Armando Thamez/Bass Discography(Album) Vitruvius 2011
1.Stealing A Tear From The Rain 2.Inner Space 3.Somewhere 4.Memories 5.Alchemist 6.Shade My Sight 7.Lost Perception 8.Stain In The Moon 9.Black Sphere Pt. 1 (instr.) 10.Black Sphere Pt. 2
39.4 was a funk-psychedelic band from the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico.The majority of Tapatio groups such as La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata, Los Spiders, La Solemnidad, Fachada de Piedra, Quinta Visión, etc., were mostly imitations of classic rock bands. 39.4 was the exception and coincided with bands from other sides of the Mexican Republic, with more unique and varied influences ranging from jazz to psychedelic. 39.4 was originally formed as Bandido, and consisted of Luisillo Arciniega Luis Vicente Rivera (trombone), Jose Luis Guerrero (Sax and transverse flute), Ignacio Rodriguez (trumpet) Keno Eugenio Guerrero (bass) and Efren Gonzalez Olvera Bear (guitar). Soon after, they changed their name to 39.4 and produced their first and only LP in 1972 on CBS Records in the US. Line-up / Musicians Guillermo Brizio Dominguez Willow/guitar Enrique Sanchez Ruiz/vocals Jorge A. Salles/bass Jaime Arturo Hernandez/saxophone Carlos Hijar Medina/trumpet,trombone Octavio Garcia Hernandez/trumpet,flute Jose Luis Zuniga Lazcarro/drums Ariel Castellanos Villanueva/keyboards Discography(Album) 39.4 1972
1.Behind the Mask 2.Everyday Woman 3.Set You Free 4.Losers, Winners 5.I Can Live Without You 6.Faith 7.Electronic Citizen 8.Higher 9.Express City 10.Madness
EL RITUAL is well crafted progressive/psych bluesy rock with nice organ, some Tull like flute here and there, nice guitars, with softer and harder rock/prog/bluesrock passages, sometimes with rather hard rock vocals, and a few times Uriah Heep-lkind of vocal harmonies, with lyrics in English. The fourth track, “Satanas” is more experimental, theatrical track mixed with bluesy rock, and a long drum solo, a song about being the devil. “Muerto E Ido” has a slight Canterbury touch. This deserves to be heard by all prog/psych collectors. It sounds as interesting as many English & American examples. Line-up / Musicians Gonzalo Chalo Hernández/bass Alberto Lalo Barceló/drums Frankie Barreño/vocals,guitars,flute Martín Mayo/keyboards Discography(Album) El Ritual 1971
1.Satanás 2.Peregrinación satánica 3.Groupie 4.Muerto e ido 5.Easy woman 6.La tierra de que te hablé 7.Bajo el sol y frente a Diós 8.Conspiración
In spite of their Rolling Stones influence, Toncho Pilatos interpreted original instrumentation. Polydor issued their first album, with a double cover, within its 'Power Rock' series, something of a first for a Mexican band. The Toncho Pilatos album was so successful that it was even released in Germany.The tolerance and support supplied by Polydor was almost unique at that time, and both Bob Dylan and Beck commented on the influence of Toncho Pilatos' debut release. Critics were divided over the recorded work, but most agreed concert performances brought the best out of the Guadalajaran based band. Their national television debut took place on 3 May 1974, on the television program Hour Zero, with production from Luis de Llano, through Channel 4 of the DF. The violins of the Mariachi New Tecalitlán also enhanced the presentation. In time, Toncho Pilatos incorporated the violinist Richard Nassau, originating from Chicago, United States, into the group.Nevertheless, and in spite of the achieved success, it was not until 1980 that Toncho Pilatos returned to record their second studio album, Segunda Vez. To a large extent, this delay was because Mexican rock music had entered a low period, due to the repression and intolerance that arose after the Festival of Avándaro. At the end of the 1980s, Toncho Pilatos had disappeared from the scene. After several changes of membership, the group appeared in Los Angeles, under the name of Toncho Indian Braves. In 1991, they recorded their third and final studio album, Soy un Mexicano.Alfonso Toncho Guerrero died on 4 July 1992, at the age of 42 years, just a few months after the release of the album, and only weeks after the band's last television appearance. The legacy of Toncho Pilatos, with their Mexicanista sound and Spanish lyrics sowed the seeds for Mexican rock music. Line-up / Musicians Miguel Robledo "El Pastel"/bass Raúl Briseño "El Güero"/drums Alberto López "Beto"/piano,organ José Guadalupe Gómez Parra /drums Alberto Nájera "Beto"/guitar Fernando Galindo "El Gordo"/bass Alfonso Guerrero Sánchez "Toncho"/vocals,harmonica,flute,violin,guitar Discography(Album) Toncho Pilatos 1971
1.Wait 2.Kukulkán 3.Drunk Again 4.Blind Man 5.Let her Be 6.Tommy Lyz 7.The Last Dance 8.Sweet Monserrat
