Menayeri - "Futura Historia" Review

Artist/ Band: Menayeri
Title: Futura Historia
Label: Menayerian Music
Year of Release: 2004
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

A few months ago, I was approached, online, by drummer Enrique on a progressive rock forum called Progressive Ears, to review his band Menayeri’s latest release. I always welcome the opportunity to review bands, especially ones that I’m not familiar with. I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Once I got possession of the promo, Enrique sent, I found that after several spins, I liked what I heard.

Basically their music is a nice mix of raw (slight aggression) and melodic beauty which often reminds me of a sound that is rooted primarily in the English progressive rock scene of the 70's and 80's. Being Menayeri is from Puerto Rico, they have a nice originality to them, mainly in the orchestrations of each song. Oh the music is not written or sung in English. I think the band probably felt more comfortable having the vocals sung in their native tongue. In the past, I’ve stay clear of such music but recently I come to think of them as yet another instrument. Hopefully more people will approach music this way since there’s a lot of great stuff out there to be heard, such as Menayeri. This is one of those lesser known progressive rock bands that hopefully won’t fall through the cracks because it’s a welcomed addition to the genre.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on July 26th, 2005

Tracks:

1. Juego del Futuro

2. Revolucion En El Alma

3. Tiempo de Volcer

4. Apertura

5. Futura Historia

6. Hada del Lago

7. Camino del Kodama

8. Hacia Donde...