Hugo Flores wrote, played, and produced the majority of songs on his current album Atlantis. He is one of the few musical acts that I have had the pleasure of listening to, who has the innate talent to take on such a project, and complete it with such success. His music style is reminiscent of the rock operettas of Queen and the late 90s rock sound of U2. It is a romantic ride from soft to hard rock, taking one on an emotional roller coaster as they are taken from a near relaxing state to one that entices a serious head banging experience.

     The electric guitar is Flores' claim to fame, with tracks like Atlantis, and the most definitive showcase of Flores' talent Train to Infinity, Flores mixes a barrage of electronic and instrumental musical sounds to create this spiritual music. And while the lyrics of Flores' collaborator Carlos Mateus' were sometimes cheesy, in a mediocre way fit the emotionally charged, heart thumping sound of the album.

     There is no doubt that Flores can carve a niche in the world music scene, especially with the success of other similar style European acts like Enya, Enigma, and the success of mainstream hits like Sting's Desert Rose, there is a place for Flores' sound. It is clear from listening to his work his strong point is not necessarily lyrics and perform, but rather to compose and arrange beautiful music.

     Flores' knack for writing beautiful instrumental pieces is not restricted to the smooth moods relaxing sound, he really showed his talent on the instrumental and musical pieces that included hard rocking' electric, which were nothing short of innovative. Any self respecting fan of hard rocking' electric guitar will never forgive themselves if they do not hear these pieces on tracks like Fading Beauty, Train to Infinity and the instrumental electric guitar piece Believe.

     Overall Flores' is a diamond in the rough. The songs on this CD were good, but the intros were way too long on nearly every song, making me believe that some songs were instrumentals when they really were not. On several of the albums tracks it was a full two to three minutes before Flores began to sing, plus some of the songs were unnecessarily long averaging nearly five minutes and longer. Also, some of the songs were essentially ruined by the lyrics that seemed in some pieces out of place. However, despite these shortcomings Flores' success in the world music market is a definite.

     Send your comments and or questions about this article to JenniferJ@ybfree.com.

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