Monte Sagrado
is
Draco Rosa
's first album of new studio material in nine years; it's not the comeback album fans might expect from him. as he didn't expect it, either. After recovering from two battles with cancer, the artist returned to his Phantom Vox studio on his 100-acre farm in the mountains of Utuado, Puerto Rico, set to record new material. Orignally it was designed as an album of "beautiful songs" that he and
Sony
agreed on. What happened when he entered the studio changed everything. For the preceding few months, doctors had been lowering
Rosa
's medication doses; his body and mind entered a renewed state of well-being. This wooly collection of rock & roll songs is the result.
Opener and first single "333" roars to life with distorted, detuned guitars and basses amid thudding hard rock drums. The vocals are shouted more than sung inside the din. It doesn't sound "happy" but riotous. But that's deceptive. "333" is the sound of freedom, of being unchained; it's the sound of power.
plays electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and handles programming and production with a small core band that includes
Doug Pettibone
on guitar. It's followed by the crunchy post-punk strut of "Que Se Joda el Dolor" with its squalling feedback, high-pitched backing chorus and
's shouted indignance at his difficult recovery process (the title translates as "Fuck the Pain"). There's real drama in "Dentro de Ti." Its declarative vocal and pulsing, swaggering bassline recalls the
Clash
's "London Calling" and its squalling guitar break is not unlike something from
Robert Quine
. There is joy here too: Check the warped, souled-out Latin rock in "Yo Mismo" as hovering B-3s and synths crisscross with fuzzed-out guitars and layered harmony vocals. "2Nite 2Nite" is an unhinged apocalyptic party anthem, with call-and-response vocals and an in-your-face hard rock mix: "No lover, it's not a crisis, it's liberationâ?¦." "Tuda La Oscuro" intersects at the corners of snotty punk and bluesy hard rock, while "The Thing I Done" is loose, heavy, passionate reggae. The closer, "En Las Horas Mas Tristes," inseparably weaves together drama and gratitude in an eight-minute post-pysch sojourn.
is radical, in its way a kindred spirit to 1994's
Vagabundo
(initially panned as too dark and experimental, it has since become a Latin rock classic).
is at a creative peak here, throwing off the shackles of sickness, doubt, and horror to embrace his recovery as sacred. The aggression is warranted, the raw energy a blessing, the darkness a gateway to hard-won joy.
, like
's journey, is nothing less than transformative. ~ Thom Jurek