TEMPANO - CHILDHOOD'S END - 2000

After a hibernation period in the realms of standardized commercial pop-rock, Témpano reemerged as a major progressive force while organizing the CD release of their pioneering album "Atabal-Yemal". When the original line-up reunited in order to fulfill the aforesaid enterprise, there was a need reborn: the need to create significant music under the prog rock banner. And so it came to be that Témpano became one of the most prominent prog South American bands nowadays, starting over and refreshening their ideals. While the Musea people ask material from them for their multi-group epics, the band itself delivers two excellent prog efforts for the new millenium. Témpano are stronger than ever, indeed. "Childhood's End" was their official comeback album, and it was a journey straight to the major leagues: as an extra factor, After Crying cellist Peter Pejtsik helped the band to fulfill their vision in many tracks of the album, and even wrote some parts of the introductory number 'Tres'. This brief track sets a pace of intensity and density for 'Timorato', an impressive tour-de-force in which Castillo's guitar is featured in a somewhat Frippian way, while the rhythm section lays a powerful foundation and the keyboard and cello inputs draw hypnotic orchestrations and adornments. 'Lugar de Casa Nuevas' gets more lyrical, creating a sort of mixture between Camel and Happy the Man in a very dinamic way - this time it is keyboardist Della Noce who steals the show at some time. 'Sin Retorno' is the least complex track in the album, paving a road of melodic rock with a hint of jazz-pop. Once again we must mention guitarist Castillo as the leading star, since his leads happen to provide a big deal of emotional power to a song that, with softer arrangements, would have been just trivial. Thanks to the band's overall genius, this track becaomes a very effective modern symphonic ballad. 'Grillos' finds the band exploring their jazzy facet deeply and energetically: the avantgarde trend is their choice, and it certainly allows them to deliver an ellegant set of disturbing textures all the way through. Disturbing indeed, yet very lyrical: I think that being capable of creating lyricism in a somber context is one of the main virtues of the Témpano people as writers and performers. This motto is incredibly enhanced in the multi-part suite 'El Fin de la Infancia'. This 25- minute opus is an inventive catalogue of various influences used in the sequence of all successive motifs: the heritages of 73-75 King Crimson, Yes, Happy the Man, Univers Zero, Gentle Giant, 73-75 Pink Floyd,. all of them are properly ordained and recycled through the band's own vision. This has to be one of the most accomplished prog epics for the last 16 years! The last two tracks have to bear the weight of following the epic, but they cannot be ignored. 'Escape para el Hombre Común' sets a vibrating mixture of Gentle Giant-esque exquisite dissonances and jazz-rock with a funky basis. 'En la Vía' is a bit smoother, built on a fusionesque trend that seems somewhat inspired in Pat Metheny. The predominant melancholic mood of this track is a very effective closure for a very intense album. The amazing richness comprised in "Childhood's End" proves that Témpano is a masterpiece making machine.
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