ninehertz

Five years on from their self-titled debut that brought widespread recognition and praise, Rostro del Sol return once more. For the uninitiated, the Mexican sextet excel in instrumental prog – usually outside of our listening remit and preference – but enlivened by a generous palette of psychedelic colour.

It is all neatly encapsulated in the title-track opener, where prog synth beginnings morph into blues folk psychedelia, utilising unusual instrumentation that reminds me a little of Circulus in their heyday, gentle and breezy. It switches back to more frenetic prog, which you feel is its core, with saxophone forays in the ethereal latter on. They utilise a wide range of instruments as seen early on in the excitable horn and moog jazz of Bicephalous or the piano led Predicator .

I’m furthest from my psych/doom comfort zone in the lounge jazz segments of the album, but even here their broad strokes approach is admirable. Nothing seems to be able to shift the smile on my face, not the cheesy guitar soloing of Mother of illusion, nor the slight self-indulgence of Collapse – it’s all part of the prog life I guess.

I’m certainly most comfortable in the more familiar passages where the psychedelia is more prominent, often through cosmic space rock hints, but the album is a joyful experience regardless, a band committed to their sound; prog that is expansive, exploratory and fun.