Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, the members of Totimoshi incorporate their Latin heritage more than ever on Milagrosa, a roiling wall of thick and metallic post-grunge sound influenced by the Melvins and Nirvana as much as by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. With Helmet producer Page Hamilton at the helm, singer/guitarist Tony Aguilar and bassist Meg Castellanos (along with new drummer Chris Fugitt) deftly pull off this concept album of sorts, a 41-minute rumination on good vs. evil. Aguilar's voice suits the raggedy-jaggedy music, and his guitar playing is most impressive on the searing rocker "Little Bee," which defies the tone of Milagrosa's other tracks and emerges as the album's best song. Totimoshi only really slows things down for the acoustic indie-folk ballad "Forever in Bone (Los Dos)" and the pretty, U2-ish closer "Dear."
Here's hoping Totimoshi embrace their tangled roots even further...
Track Listing:
1) Sound the Horn
2) Fall and Bound
3) El Emplazado
4) Last Refrain
5) Seeing Eye
6) Milagrosa
7) Forever in Bone (Los Dos)
8) The Whisper
9) Gnat
10) Little Bee
11) Dear