Detailed Reviews [Diez Mundos – 2011 - "Tenemos Todo el Tiempo de Plank"]

Prolusion. “Tenemos Todo el Tiempo de Plank” is most likely the debut release by the Argentinean outfit DIEZ MUNDOS. The disc arrived without any supporting material, and, being disappointed with its contents, I had no desire to browse the web in order to learn whether it’s so or not.

Analysis. Did I expect anything positive from an album, almost a half of which, as it’s stated in the CD booklet, only features the duo of bassist and drummer as performers? Nah. There are eight tracks here, and, seeing such a lineup configuration as this one, there was no need to be a magician to guess shrewdly that at least a few of those represent almost nothing musically. However, it turned out that there are five such opuses here, namely Intro, Hambre, La Huida del Gallinero, Baile Frustrado and Risas (whose length, while ‘declared’ as 15:43, doesn’t exceed 5 minutes in fact). The first of these contains nothing apart from a robotic voice, which merely repeats the band’s name, and all of the others suggest a rhythm section laying its tracks in the studio (which always occurs prior to recording any other instruments), sounding certainly as it is: like a backbone for what could have become complete compositions had such been designed, to put it succinctly. Okay, the latter two pieces additionally reveal synthesizer effects, but those really add nothing to the stuff, since they only appear here and there, and are just odd in most cases. What do the tracks sound like in style? Both the players alternate riffs (or bass riffs and drum stabs, if you will) in what is nothing other than three- or at best four-thematic hard-rock structure, as de facto evinced on two of the tracks that also feature a guitarist, Nacimiento and Tormenta de Verano, where there are heavy guitar riffs with still the same standard rock bass and drums accompaniment. The ‘keyboardist’ never seems to play solos. As ever, he’s quickly pushing on one button, then on another, then stopping, then repeating, etc. The drums at times also display this start-and-stop approach – not necessarily in synchronization with the guitar or bass. Finally, Los 15 del 15 is made up of three recurring themes, two of which fairly well reproduce the aura of early ‘80s King Crimson, but pale in comparison with that band on, say, all of the other levels.

Conclusion. While this freak of creation is segmented into eight tracks, most of it almost essentially sounds like one recording session for a rhythm section. Not a big deal to record something. The misfortune is when those who’ve made a potboiler reckon it’s worthy of being issued, let alone sending to progressive rock sites for review.

VM=Vitaly Menshikov: September 21, 2011
The Rating Room