Monday 26 February 2018

Pequeño animal (Dry River, 2011)

This Spanish band released their first album titled "El Circo de la Tierra" in 2011 and were a pleasant surprise to me. Sure, some of their tracks are too much on the metal prog side for my mellower tastes, but many songs are plain and very good progressive rock in a vital and colourful mood I like very much. " Pequeño animal" is one of them, full of bombastic and melodic lines, and also featuring well found changes in both rythm and tempo.

This cover art perfectly matches with the band's music, IMHO.


The background keyboard work by Carlos Álvarez Prades is brilliant, and all the musicians know how to play their instruments. Maybe a special mention goes to Ángel Belinchón Calleja's powerful vocals (and after all, Dry River used to perform Queen's covers in their early days...), adding a somewhat operatic pop-rock touch to the great picture, a welcome and original twist. And I also highly recommend to your attention their following albums...