For its fourth album, the Spanish trio
Dificil Equilibrio recruited two handfuls of musical guests, but strangely they make little impact, as their additions on cello, trumpet, or saxophone, spread across the entire album, are blended almost seamlessly or buried into the mix.
Simétricanarquia begins with a trio piece, "Vidas Son Horas," a typical
DE tune that heavily references early-'80s King Crimson. A deadlocked rhythm section and Robert Fripp-esque circular motif-playing guitar is the group's modus operandi. The tracks molded that way form the spine of the record. If the aforementioned opener and "Al Destino Devenir" are very fine numbers, pieces from this side of the band tend to be interchangeable.
Simétricanarquia grabs and impresses when it steps out of its way, as with a punchy rendition of
Gong's "Dynamite" (one of the group's key pre-Radio Gnome Trilogy tracks). There's also the acoustic "Ruptura3" and the percussive orgy of "Zakarit Mena al Maghreb" (featuring Khadija Reghay on zakarit). The hand percussion from that track carries on into "Trayecto V," the album's highlight thanks in part to Raquel Piernas' ethereal wordless vocals. The album ends with the title track, a piece of complex interlocking patterns between guitar and bass that strongly evokes
Philharmonie, the French followers of Fripp's Guitar Craft. The piece is slightly marred by the use of a drum machine, making for an awkward conclusion (enhanced by the "hidden" recitation in Spanish at the very end of the track), but otherwise this is a strong album whose strength resides in its unsuspected diversity. ~ François Couture