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Cruz de Hierro — Crossroads
(no#, 0, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2008-01-01

Crossroads Cover art Some may recall this Mexican quintet from their performance at Baja Prog many years back; in fact they have come a long way toward finding their own sound since those earlier days. Their stock in trade is a melodic progressive metal, a busy and technical style that fits these players well, though it eases occasionally into more pop-stricken radio-friendly territory (as on "With You" or "Life and Dream"). Guitarist Ernesto Bringas leads the band, and together with brother Antonio Bringas (drums, also a member of Cast) has a hand in all the compositions, which tend to be heavily guitar driven and rhythmically intense, but bear clever and varied arrangements that keep them interesting throughout. The four instrumentalists (g/k/b/d) are skilled and impressive players who hold their own next to the best of them. Vocalist Alejandro Carrera is the wild card here, listeners will probably take or leave the band based on the vocals, typically prog-metal and somewhat on the emotional, histrionic side. For some reason the band also finds a need for lyrics in English (isn't their primary audience in Guadalajara Spanish speaking?); mind you the lyrics are generally good, sometimes excellent, but too often the singer's delivery is a bit awkward. For the album closer "Trinta Monedas," he switches to Spanish, and it's here where he gives his strongest performance on the disc. Fans of chops driven prog-metal will probably find Crossroads to their liking. Check out the MySpace page for samples.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 35, 0 releases

Related artist(s): Cruz de Hierro

More info
http://www.myspace.com/cruzdehierro

 

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