I recently returned from Madrid, Spain. Ιt was my second visit there, much happier than the previous one when I got COVID and stayed in bed for most of my time. At least, last time I did get to visit a lot of record stores and buy some CDs and LPs from Spanish bands - any visit to another country means getting some rock albums from local bands. I don't have to be familiar with them. Sometimes I listen to a few seconds of a song on my mobile, others I just read a bit of info about them. By now I've been to Spain so many times that I have albums by maybe 20 Spanish rock bands - more than most of my Spanish friends! This time I thought I'd buy something by Extremoduro whom I understood to be quite popular (apparently they were ranked number 6 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Spanish rock bands"). The band's name (which means "extremely tough/hard") is also a pun on the band's home region in western Spain, Extremadura. It was founded in 1987 by Roberto "Robe" Iniesta who was also the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter. Initially they were a bit rough, with rude lyrics glorifying sex and hard drugs. They called their music "Rock transgresivo" - a mix of progressive rock with hard rock and alternative. This album represents the culmination of their efforts, being both a critical and commercial success (their first to reach No.1 at the Spanish charts). The album title translates as "The Inner Law", and the Latin text on the cover (attributed to Cicero) translates as "There is, in fact, judges, an unwritten law, but an innate one, which we have not learned, inherited, or read, but which we have grasped, squeezed, and expunged from nature itself; a law for which we have not been educated, but made; and in which we have not been instructed, but steeped". That "innate law" seems to be the central idea behind this concept album, but how it's all connected isn't clear to me - the CD booklet provides us with the lyrics, but my Spanish is extremely limited. Supposedly the text is poetic and lyrically accomplished. The music is also quite complex, with changing tempos and rich instrumentation, including the violin and other strings, piano, trumpet, and woodwind. In a throwback to earlier times (e.g. "Thick As A Brick") there aren't songs per se, or rather there is a single song, divided in 6 parts: introduction, four "movements" and a coda. Even so, each movement is comprised by various segments sometimes incorporating recurring melodies from other movements. Opener "Dulce introducción al caos" starts, as hinted by its title, as a pretty ballad, with nice violin. Even though it gets progressively louder, even making use of metallic riffs towards the end, it never loses its sense of melody. "Primer movimiento: el sueño" is a catchy tune which reminds me of Porcupine Tree's more mainstream moments. "Segundo movimiento: lo de fuera" is, at nearly 12 minutes, the longest, most progressive, track. It includes everything from orchestral melodic parts to punk rock choruses, but above all excellent guitar solos. This segues into a relatively straight heavy metal piece "Tercer movimiento: lo de dentro", followed by the semi-acoustic (for the most part) "Cuarto movimiento: la realidad". "Coda flamenca (otra realidad)" which closes the album incorporates folk (flamenco) influences. It's a welcome addition to the group's palette, but Extremoduro aren't exactly Triana, meaning that Robe's flamenco-style vocalizing is less than convincing; he's more in his element when he cranks up the volume during the last two minutes of the song. In the end, this makes for a very satisfying listen: the compositions are complex enough to merit the progressive label, but not experimental or "difficult". Indeed it's full of catchy melodies and choruses, while the guitars are as loud and flashy as expected from a hard rock band, but not to the point of exhibitionism. Already one of my favorite Spanish rock bands, alongside the (very different to each other) Heroes Del Silencio, Ska-P, and Triana.
**** for Dulce introducción al caos, Primer movimiento: el sueño, Segundo movimiento: lo de fuera, Tercer movimiento: lo de dentro, Cuarto movimiento: la realidad, Coda flamenca (otra realidad)
