Album Of The Week-Los Natas-"Nuevo Orden de la Libertad" (2009)

The Album Of The Week is "Nuevo Orden dela Libertad" by Los Natas.



Reviews:

Argentinian stoner rock trio Los Natas (formerly just Natas, but a rap group grabbed that name away from them) has been pumping out albums since the late 1990s; they started out on Man's Ruin, but Nuevo Orden de la Libertad is their third release for the Detroit-based label Small Stone. Their music is heavy and psychedelic, with occasional bursts of punky speed and -- perhaps more impressively -- side trips into trancelike rhythms, desert guitar tones and spacy keyboards. The acoustic bridge on "Ganar-Perder" ("To Want-To Lose") creates an evocative mood of spiritual desolation that makes the return of the song's primary riff, not to mention Gonzalo Villagra's throbbing, relentless bassline, that much more effective. Similarly, "El Pastizal" features an almost flamenco-like intro that leads into a thundering, almost Melvins-esque stomp. On the other hand, "Resistiendo al Dolor" ("Resisting Sadness") features a riff blatantly jacked from High On Fire, so points off for that. In its second half, the album starts to feel a little padded, with the one-riff instrumental "David y Goliath" followed by the 90-second acoustic guitar bit "Bienvenidos," but "10,000" takes things in a pretty rockin' direction, and would have been a better than decent ending to things. Los Natas have one more trick up their sleeves, though -- the decidedly weird instrumental "Two Horses," which mixes spaghetti Western guitar plucking with reverbed piano to hypnotic, hallucinatory effect. If Alejandro Jodorowsky ever films the long-rumored sequel to his 1970 cult Western El Topo, this track should be its theme music. (Phil Freeman, All Mucic Guide)

Los Natas is one of those acts that’s respected by nearly everybody in its chosen sphere, but largely unknown outside of it. Too bad – when it comes to stoner rock, it’s hard to beat this Argentine power trio. Too many bands of this milieu glory in the thud and crunch and forget the psychedelic subtleties that are as much a part of heavy rock as riffs. Not Los Natas – Sergio CH and his crew incorporate any trippy thing that comes into their heads on Nuevo Orden De La Libertad, while still remaining heavy at the core. Thus you get the theremin-like noises strewn throughout the otherwise bruising David & Goliath, the Steve Howe-does-spaghetti-western-soundtracks coda of Ganar=Perder or the marching piano of Dos Horses. There’s still plenty of meat for carnivorous headbangers – El Nuevo Orden… and the appropriately titled Hombre de Metal pound like a seething cave troll, while 10,000 thrashes like Sauron clearing the field of elves. Los Natas is the best kind of heavy rock band – always evolving while trumpeting the original virtues. (Michael Toland, Sleazegrinder)

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Track Listing:

01. Las Campanadas
02. El Nuevo Orden De La Libertad
03. Resistiendo Al Dolor
04. Hombre De Metal
05. Ganar-Perder
06. Noviembre
07. David Y Goliath
08. Bienvenidos
09. 10.000
10. Dos Horses

Video: "EL NUEVO ORDEN DE LA LIBERTAD"



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