MAZO

Now this is one confusing record. I've asked several "specialists" on Spanish/Latino-metal and none of them seem to be familiar with MAZO. On the other hand this guy I know claims he's seen it several times here in Sweden. I wouldn't dare to estimate a value because either this is Spain's most common Metal record, available for a few dinares in every flea market in the country, and totally ignored by the collector community for that reason (after all it's on a major label), or it's a priceless, uknown megararity and it was pure idiot luck for me to find it for an equal of 10 euros on a record fair here in Stockholm ...or something inbetween. Musically they're kinda like the missing link between MOTÖRHEAD and JAGUAR. Yep, they're sure big fans of Lemmy & co and without a doubt they were the hardest rocking band in Spain in 1982. Let me throw some more names into the basket for fairness sake: ACID, TANK, 1980 BRATS, VULCAIN, ARKANGEL - as close to Speed/Power Metal as you could possibly get this year. If they ever shared a gig with BARON ROJO I bet they blew the old Baron right off the stage. Not a shade of epic viking metal hymns for those of you who are into that stuff, but then again not one single piece of blues, boogie, aor, new wave or whatever else it is that usually kills a would-be great Hard Rock record. The opener "Balada Cafre" sets the pace. Total speed metal hard rock bliss that will kill your lawn if you forget you close your livingroom window. "Nada Nada" is the ultimate rock'n'roll song - such a powerful lead riff and killer melodic chorus and a live favourite for sure. Then comes another brilliant speed song vergeing on thrash in "Depresion", then on it goes like that, a hard rock song followed by a power/speed track followed by another rocker. The album somewhat looses itself in the middle where the songs gets a bit forgetable, but then the closing "Has Cambiado" hits you like a ton of bricks. Definitely their finest moment! It combines all their strongest sides, the powerful vocal harmonies, drums at thundering speed and those ravageing rock riffs. The album as a whole barely makes my top ten list for 1982, but it's still the best Spanish metal album I've heard so far. Rarity or not, a must buy.

Some additional info from collector Rene Engelaan:
"...Beside the album, they also released a 7"single "Vive la musica". (The b-side of the single was "Vive la Musica" - part II). MANOLO CAÑO came from OBUS, and JULIO DIAZ later left to SANTA. They went on a big record companie, and in the beginning everybody spoke about them, but after some time, the companie kicked them out, because the record didnt sell, and the band split up, back in 1983-84 /.../ I think of the Lp they pressed first 1000 (the normal thing for MERCURY records for spanish groups) and maybe they made a second 1000 pressing, but i dont think so, because the record didnt sell good, and its very difficult to find in Spain /.../ I think the value of the lp is between 50-80euros."