Zyniestra - CD Review
Voces de un Sueno

CD Info
Self Released
7 tracks
9/10

There’s not much out there about this fine Mexican release. But, it follows in the footsteps of a number of Spanish releases that take us to higher ground in the symphonic, operatic Gothic realms. You get all the required components in the genre; solid metal, exceptional symphonics and a fine vocal delivered by a truly beautiful Mexican vocalist calling herself Marha LadyZyniestra. The lyrics are in Spanish as is pretty much everything else written about the release on line so this is probably the only English coverage you’re going to find. Of course, I don’t have a problem with the Spanish although it is a little different than my Spanish Spanish. But the music, well, that’s universal, solid no matter what your cultural inclination is.

The main guy appears to be one Snoc Nebur but he yielded the info transformation to the lovely Lady Marha since her English was better than my Spanish. So, much of what I know about this release comes from her. It’s not a terribly long release, some 7 tracks although they tend to be rather well developed. But, this one needs to be introduced on the strength of its music, when its good its good.

Now although this is symphonic operatic, there is some B & B throughout. And, as with the rest of the material, its pretty good. Not sure who's doing that harsh vocal, maybe our man Snoc but whoever it is he does a fine job. Whatever. This music is finely crafted and presents a relatively sophisticated classically oriented sound, both instrumentally and lyrically. You want pure death metal, this probably won’t work for you. But, you want fine Gothic oriented symphonic, operatic stuff, this is right in your wheel house. Very much in keeping with the European model for the most part, in fact, unless I tell you its Mexican, it would be impossible to tell it from Spanish, as in Spain. A lot of similarity, unless you can catch something in the accent which is possible I guess. I can tell the difference, not many would.

I asked the lady to talk a little about the release, what’s going on from her perspective. She provided details: “ The keyboardist of the band is the one responsible for making the melodic base, the vocal line and lyrics are by my account. We're the band structure. The lyrics talk about various topics; dreams, back to the roots, believing in yourself, look within us, answers that we seek out occasions without finding what we seek and love that still lingers in our hearts even though no longer physically.” Shall we say wide ranging. But that musical structure is interesting. The music is catchy, has hooks, does the usual tricks just with a stronger basis to work from. You don’t tend to get the searing keyboards, they tend to drive the melody while the metal covers the background to the vocals. It’s complicated. . . and I’m drinking.

Well, anyway, we begin with, dare I say, Intro. Seems appropriate. But this intro has very little do do with the music we are about to experience. It’s pretty much electro stuff over a heavy drum with no vocals. Kinda like JayZ opening for Nightwish. Not sure what this all means, but we get through it quickly and head to the second track Satiros en un Sueño. Here’s where we get down to business. And those lyrics are featured here as well, in case tu puede hablar en espanol. The sound is a pulsating one, this is an interesting interpretation of multiple thoughts. You can almost see where they’re going even if you don’t understand the lyrics. And, even if you don’t, and you probably don’t, the vocals over a pounding symphonic metal framework make that largely irrelevant. There’s little to complain about when a solid femme metal takes us up to this level, and we get it all, especially towards the end when the lady climbs the ladder and takes us to the pounding metal provided by the guitars. This is clearly good stuff. The laughing parts, well, there’s always room for a little insanity, take it as a sign.

The third track takes us to a deeper sound. Again, the Lady seems to have an interest in speaking to us, an attempt to prepare us for the crushing metal that is to follow. I guess the thing to get clear here is that Zyniestra is a sound that focuses on the vocal of a seriously talented vocalist, the material that surrounds her is there to accent that capability, and it does so rather nicely. Lyrically, this track talks about communications, and the lack of same. Yea, I know, we all experience that stuff but it never sounded better in song. I like to think that music like this takes us deep into some of our subconscious thinking but, well, if you don't understand the language, it tends to lose some of it’s relevance. But, even if you don’t comprehend the lyrical material, the emotive quality of the track does seem to capture a bit of the thought process. It’s like the rhasta say, the stoic rude bwoi will speak to ya mon, it matters naught yer thinkin’ her.

Other tracks build on this capability. No Hay Mar En Calma sounds like it should go silently into that dark night. It doesn’t. It pounds. Again, the rhasta: Ston a riva batten huh know sun hat, or, in the English, A stone at the bottom of the river doesn’t know the sun is hot. And this one is hot, without us knowing the full interpretation. The song is about change, and change is rarely calm, consequently the pounding metal that rides us to the message. We get similar sounds with Quiero Escuchar Tu Voz which begs interpretation at a different level. This one provides some of the best vocal work, appropriately I guess, given the title. But, it follows the given musical direction provided by the previous several selections. However, it adds a nice death metal vocal to enhance the overall sound of the track. Guess that’s the Voz we were asking for in the title.

Adiccion was the track I was most interested in getting information about. I don’t think I need to provide an interpretation of that one. But, you never know what people have in mind when they write this stuff, so I asked. Here’s what I got: “A funny thing happened on addiction, SNOC told me to send a song he had composed some time ago to see if I could work in a lyric to this. When I heard it, the music touched me until the heartstrings. Evening began to fall. I made coffee, went to the balcony and started writing, not just for the song, just because I felt I had to. After writing I realized it was a perfect subject for the composition SNOC had sent me. I started the song and the words I wrote were perfectly settled so incredible and addiction was born. This song is about the love that persists although it no longer exists, and persists within us, feeds on hope. It has a very intimate phrase ‘the way it's taught me sad traverse without your hand holding this dream, everything has a bitter taste behind every fleeting triumph no real happiness if you are missing.’ This is a very emotional composition , even though most of the songs are introspective.” Always nice to get an interpretation from the writer.

Well, anyway, we leave this Spanish composition with an appropriately named track, Outro. And it seems to bookend the work, again, with something that takes us into a different reality than most of what we got during the pounding metal that was the major theme of the work. I guess that’s appropriate, no need in leaving an open door. But, even here, we recognize that we’ve heard something that is more than a little entertaining. This is Spanish Gothic, done in Spanish, with a solid vocal and all the required instrumental components that make us enjoy this type of music. I find little to fault, unless you were expecting German or Russian as a language vehicle. If that’s the case, well, as the rhasta might say, Too bad mon. Dis is de sound. An I like it.

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