It’s not often
I get to review a band from Columbia so Cóndor piqued my interest and I thought
I’d check out this “Duin”, the band’s second full-length. Breaking the ice is an
excellent instrumental called ‘Rio Frio’ (‘Cold River’) whose
classically-inspired melodies give the composition a nice touch. The rest of the
album, however, is bogged down by its biggest handicap: a terrible and
amateurish sound.
Most of the
songs are quite long (‘Condordäle’ even passes the 10 minutes mark) and yet
they feel underdeveloped and their musicianship inconsistent. The spirited
instrumental interlude of ‘Coeur-de-lion’ is interesting but loses its momentum
before the song ends. And this inconsistency is symptomatic of the whole album.
Musically
“Duin” has 2 sides to it: a dark My-Dying-Bride type of persona and a rough
Death Metal side. Neither convinces unequivocally but if it weren’t for the
vocals, I’d say the atmospheric attributes of the music sound slightly better.
As a band Cóndor don’t deserve to be written off entirely
for under what generally comes across as a sonar mess you do sense that they
have a good ear for melody and some
interesting ideas. Ultimately, however, the band fails to create something
compelling and the album’s production is its prime liability.
