Escalofrío II... La conclusión

I already recalled what the first Gillman’s release sounded like some months ago. Back in the day I also wrote that the second part of that conceptual work was coming, and ‘twas put out in the market last December. Had I had the time to thoroughly listen to it, I could have mentioned it in my contribution for GD’s cover of the best of the year. Maybe.

I know the first thing you did after reading the first statement in the beginning was re-reading the review I wrote on the antecessor of this work, so, I won’t even bother explaining it. Yes, “Escalofrío 2… La conclusión” stands for more of the same story-song, story-song formula. Even so, such formula remains effective and for its own sake, “more” means more complete.

Musically, Gillman and henchmen play a very traditional form of pure heavy metal, and still, after 18 years from releasing the first of the series, they managed to give the current work a somewhat fresh sound. There aren’t two songs that sound too similar to one another, and the songwriting is more than decent. Also, there are quite a few groovy riffs and some memorable guitar solos.

Something I found quite enjoyable was the several styles displayed in the songs. There’s groove, speed, slow heaviness, thickness, melody, technicality, atmosphere and even some ugliness to be found here evenly distributed among the tracks, so, I see no reason for almost anyone not to dig this. Wait, maybe if you are one of those assholes who only listen to so called extreme metal genres.

As for the vocals, it’s no secret the whole concept of Gillman, the band, is all about providing a metal soundtrack for Paul Gillman’s powerful voice. So yes, the vocals are a must pay attention to. You have no choice anyway. Paul’s voice does show some ageing, I mean anyone’s would. The man is over fifty now, and has been singing for almost thirty. His lines on the other hand, I felt a bit too focused on being straight and heavy and by doing that they lack some coherence.

The same as in some previous works, there also comes a time when one would love to have Paul to shut the fuck up and allow us to enjoy the music. I suppose that’s a common problem for bands that are all about the presence of their frontman. No matter what, Gillman, the man, still can sing well and for the lovers of the most pure heavy metal, his work might even be flawless.

Being the nature of this album lyrical, the lyrics actually justify the whole work, so the fact that absolutely all the songs are sung in Spanish might unfortunately be off putting for some listeners. That’s OK I guess, in fact, there’s an undeniable folk and native pride feeling in this band’s work.

All in all, “Escalofrío 2… La conclusión” makes fun listening, and I found it a worthy successor of the first part. It is also one of the few pure heavy metal albums from 2012 that have some value, and the research work again is quite rich. Recommended.

—Originally written for www.globaldomination.se