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Alas Negras > Solo dos monedas... > Reviews
Alas Negras - Solo dos monedas...

Very good new heavy metal - 79%

Noktorn, November 1st, 2007

Alas Negras, hailing from the lesser-known for metal area of Puerto Rico, is one of a newer crop of artists who seek to play a modernized form of traditional heavy metal. The music of Alas Negras is melodic and uptempo with some light progressive elements, but still has more in common with Manowar than anything else. It is done in a more subdued fashion, though; the music is more clearly emotional and the tone more introspective. But the traditional influence is most certainly a large and undeniable part of the music, and the quality of it puts Alas Negras near such great new artists as Black Aurora.

The music on 'Solo Dos Monedas' moves between fairly aggressive, double bass driven sections to slower, rocklike territory without ever losing quality. This is clearly an album that has had a lot of time and care taken with its construction; all the instrumental performances are very tight and the production is essentially flawless. The songs are precisely crafted to be very catchy and memorable, and each track is very unique and enjoyable in its own right. Even the more ballady songs don't feel like a low point for this album; they're kept exciting with dramatic, virtuostic lead guitar and a good sense of songwriting. It is fairly poppy; much of the music here sounds like it could be played on the radio without trouble. But it never once gets to the point where it feels disingenuous or unartistic.

The tracks with pronounced acoustic sections aren't overused, and the album does vary itself considerably throughout. The riffs are very solid, going through thrash, traditional heavy metal, folkish passages, and everything in between. The vocals are also excellent, alternating between an aggressive shout and memorable clean vocals, which work with the considerably talented lead guitar very effectively. Those leads are probably the main focus of the album: each is extremely good, memorable, and beautifully composed in a very dramatic but not cheesy fashion. There's a big Iron Maiden influence on this album, and although the general delivery is gentler, it still carries much of the power and craftsmanship that makes that band so great.

Alas Negras' debut album is a very solid piece of modern heavy metal. All the fans of Black Aurora or similar artists will most certainly want to pick this up, as it's one of the strongest of the underground heavy metal scene today. Hopefully this will bring not only a greater eye to Puerto Rico as a viable metal scene, but to today's strong, vibrant heavy metal scene as a whole.