Totimoshi, Milagrosa

Bay Area band Totimoshi is a power trio not afraid to sound much bigger than their numbers. Milagrosa, Totimoshi’s fifth album, is big, bombastic stuff. Jangly guitars mix well with a thumping bass and heavy, cymbal-driven drums. Slightly proggy vocal parts reminds me of David Bowie or Ian Anderson, not so much in lead singer/guitarist Tony Aguilar’s voice but in his story-telling phrasing and imagery. Interestingly, the vocals are mixed pretty far back, even though lyrically the songs are very story-driven, forcing the listener to really pay attention to the vibe of the words rather than just trying to absorb them subconsciously.

Unfortunately, the heaviness of the content gets to be a bit much after awhile. “Sound The Horn” is a call to arms, jumpy but heavy. “Fall And Bound” is a slower grind, seemingly about failure and the inability to recover, while “Last Refrain” is even more of a dirge, in the Black Sabbath vein. “Milagroso” feels a lot like “Sound The Horn,” with cool crooning background chords underneath an AC/DC-lite main riff that resolves to a killer jam in the second verse and a cool mouth-harp -driven bridge. The contrast between this bridge and the main riff is great, lightening up the song just as the listener is feeling like they are being driven underfoot.

“Forever In Bone” is the breather before the heavy ending. “Gnat” fixes on a cool bass intro sitting under a disjointed 6/8 vocal and guitar and is an appreciated departure from the rest of the album. “Dear” relaxes the end of the album, synth strings and interesting percussion under an unfortunate vocal melody.

An interesting, strong album you should definitely pick up.