Grand Mexican Warlock- III (2016)

Grand Mexican Warlock- III (2016)

By: Ghost Writer  

Bass and drums performing an almost military march at the beginning of the first song out of this record, it almost sounds similar to the intro of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, a song that wouldn't make too much sense in Hungary with the xenophobic ultra-right of the Jobbik Party and Viktor Orban's semi authoritarian nationalism becoming stronger, but the truth is that as a Mexican, I feel a real connection with the Hungarian band known as Grand Mexican Warlock, their music is truly magical and multidimensional, heavy at some moments and mystical at others, always with an impressive surprise right at the turn of the corner, opener Main Stage is quite a stunner, a beast of many colors, a song that's both brutal and warm keeping a complex equilibrium, yes, is progressive in a way, but in a completely different wave from you prog rock, with the band not afraid of embracing truly organic warm sounds and then exploding with crunchy guitars, reminding me at times of the shape shifting Mr. Bungle.

For It Kills Me, a dash of Deep Purple thunderous approach is felt on the hard as a rock initial riffs, while the band again goes latter in to some dark intricate passages, coming out with great unsuspected melodies, the band sounds rich in resources with skillful players creating layer after layer of intensely flowing rock and a passionate performance, creating chameleonic songs that work almost like a riddle that slowly opens to us.

Heavy drum and bass again led the events in Vexed, creating a wide road for chiming guitars and mysterious keyboard lines to fill in, as the band gets into complex territory thanks to its inter webbing vocal arrangements, never coming out of the shadows and with a singer capable of creating amusing moods by changing the vocal style in a continuous way, totally going out of the box on Hummingbird, a low key theme that goes into an almost jazzy tune giving the band a large dose of immediate accessibility.

With songs like the hyper kinetic The Cycle, just like the Mars Volt, the band keep things moving at a vertiginous way, preparing us for a ”grand finale” in the form of Babou, a song that would make King Crimson and Steven Wilson jealous, while on  Disillusioning, after an atmospheric moody intro, they simply explode, again in classic rock mode, making this III a quite amazing trip to the mind, heart and soul of this incredible Hungarian musicians who really know how to rock hard with their unique brand of enigmatic prog rock.