Search - Puya :: Union

Union
Puya
Union
Genres: Pop, Rock, Latin Music
 
  •  Track Listings (13) - Disc #1

Heirs to the South American headbang spirit of Sepultura, as well as the headstrong social conscience of Rage Against the Machine, the Puerto Rican groove collective Puya combine salsa, rap, and metal like a Latin Limp Biz...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Puya
Title: Union
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Fontana Mca
Original Release Date: 1/1/2001
Re-Release Date: 6/12/2001
Genres: Pop, Rock, Latin Music
Styles: Latin Pop, Latin Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 008811236229, 0008811236229

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Heirs to the South American headbang spirit of Sepultura, as well as the headstrong social conscience of Rage Against the Machine, the Puerto Rican groove collective Puya combine salsa, rap, and metal like a Latin Limp Bizkit, albeit with more brains and heart. Similar to Brooklyn's harder-edged Candiria, Puya offer a taste of everything, and, while sometimes the sound is only a collection of disparate influences, tracks such as "Si Aja" successfully combine polyrhythms with thick guitars. Someone smells the commercial potential: Union offers up radio-friendly hooks that didn't fit into the mix on the band's debut. The "original fusion" of Puya is a more organic and infectious kind of mish-mosh than the cut-and-paste songwriting of bands such as Static-X. As these brothers from Borinquen continue to synthesize their blend into a truly new style of aggression, conditions will only improve. --Ian Christe

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CD Reviews

Disappointing
Adam Styblinski | Bozeman, MT | 05/22/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)

"After their amazing first album, which was the perfect blend of bilingual metal, jazz, and salsa, this one comes off as a huge disapointment. Somewhere, for some reason, they lost most of their salsa/jazz influences and went generic nu-metal (the downfall of metal) with latin percussion, something Sepultura masterd a long time ago (true metal, not this nu-metal [..]). There are still some gems, like Si Aja, Pa'Ti Pa'Mi, and Ahorake and the production/musicianship is still as good as before, but I found myself skipping through most of the songs. Get Fundamental instead."
Thereeeee BACK
cigamy | Orlando, Florida United States | 07/26/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Puya is back with this impressive breed of new songs and a revolutionary album. Starting with Ride, the first thing you know about this album is its gonna be totally differnt from Fundamental, the previous release. Ride emphasizes Puya's live show, extensive percussion, and LOUD LOUD LOUD guitars that are tuned down excessively. People moves on to be a more latin oriented song, with guitarist ramon having a van halen like solo. The first four tracks, the "mainstream" ones are aimed at showing America who they are. OBvoiusly there not as diverse as the later ones on the album, but there not intended to be. Starting with "Numbed" you start to see how diverse they really are, they incorparate a strong beginning, and a salsa interlude with jazzy guitars, crooning singing, all sorts of latin percussion, and a wind instrument also heard in the song "Si AjA" i really dont kno what it is but it is a mix of a clarinet and kuzoo. After numbed comes bridge, a extensively percussive song then SI AJA, one of the most diverse tracks, bassist Harold Hopkins sister is brought in on piano, and the funky weird latin percussion and wind is brought as well. Other stand out cuts include Ahorake, which is very similar to a fundamental song but more mixed as they combine guitars and brassy horns, (the only song on the album to have brass, much unlike fundamental) and the preceding track which aare meandt to be played rite after each other. Also is a hidden jam fest that lasts 10 minutes at the end of the record, a little bit more mainstream than fundamental, but just as revolutionary with more percussion, more latin, but also more guitars, i only wish the wind and brass instruments were more prevalent in more of the songs, but i understand now that they were not there on every song because it would sound like another fundamental, (in which the brass was a distinctive element of there sound) union takes a more carribean approach, the brass when absent is replaced by percussive instruments that have different notes as well as that weird cuzzooo like instrument and they add more carribean like beats, ONE GREAT ALBUM"
Salsa rock just gets better...
Daniel | San Antonio, TX | 06/20/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first Puya cd was an excellent blend of salsa and hard rock with the occasional hip-hop twist in the vocals, but in "Union" Puya has honed their skills in making their own blend of salsa and hard rock music, with somewhat more of a mainstream sound to it. The songs this time on "Union" aren't in Spanish all the time, as they were in their first album "Fundamental," but that still doesn't take away from the intesity and heaviness of their songs, which sound a little more metal with the guitars and the addition of a double-bass pedal on their drummers part. But be that as it may, it doesn't take away from the elements of salsa added by their horn and percussion section, something that helps add a taste of the Puerto Rican culture from which the band derived. For listeners who want to hear more of the salsa in their music you would want to listen to "Fundamental," but don't let that lead you astray from "Union," which is a great follow up to their debut."