Desert Psychlist is not sure when the term "power trio" was first coined but our guess would be that it was probably sometime around the late sixties and was probably first ascribed to bands like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Cheer and early Mountain, trios who jammed loud heavy grooves without any assistance from a stand alone vocalist, the vocals in these bands being handled either by the guitarist or the bassist or in some rare instances by the drummer. The term certainly gained traction in the seventies with the emergence of bands like Budgie, Trapeze, The Robin Trower Band and Taste and "power trio" is still being used today as a "catch-all" term for any three piece outfit with a modicum of drive and swagger in their musical attack, which segues nicely into today's review. Portugal's El Saguaro, Lucas Hugues (guitar/vocals) ; André Horta (bass) and João Ferreira (drums), are a trio who make powerful rock music and so meet all the criteria needed to be regarded as a true power trio it also helps that the form of rock music they make together harks back to the time when the term first came into existence, an authentic sounding blend of heavy psych and hard rock with a strong 70's bias all of which can be found populating the trio's powerful debut EP "Enthusiecstasy"
"Enthusiecstasy" opens its account with the superb "Ticket To Fly" a song that pays fitting homage to many of the power trio's mentioned in this reviews opening piece as well as a couple who were not. Flavours of Hendrix, Trapeze and Grand Funk Railroad can all be found gracing this hard driven and upbeat little number as well as flavours and essences of The James Gang and the lesser well known Stray Dog, an extremely well delivered mix of heavy bluesiness and psych drenched funkiness decorated with gritty soulful lead and harmonized vocals. The band dial things down a notch or three for the delicious "Viaje", Hugues here delivering the songs Portuguese lyrics in tones smooth and creamy over a backdrop of lilting Latin flavoured groove that sees Horta's low slung bass lines and Ferreira's swinging jazzy drumming really coming into there own. The real meat and potatoes though comes when just under the halfway mark Hugues finds himself free of his vocal duties and just lets rip on his guitar, taking off on a series of soaring swooping solos that in places are reminiscent of "Caravanserai" era Carlos Santana and in others Earthless' Isaiah Mitchell. El Saguaro serve up "Nazaré" next, an instrumental piece that starts life lithe and languid then just takes off into the stratosphere with Horta's bass and Ferreira's drums laying down a sublime platform of constantly shifting groove for Hugues to build spiralling searing solos on, budding guitarists with penchant for feel over technique will lose their minds over this tune as will bassists and drummers who believe a good groove is a groove that swings. Final track "Slow'n'Easy", sees El Saguaro borrowing, either intentionally or unintentionally, the opening bars of The Beatles "Come Together" to use as a platform to launch into another 70's inspired heavy blues rock/psych romp. Much like opening number "Ticket To Fly" Hugues pitches his vocals at the grittier end of soulful and his guitar work at the funkier end of the rock spectrum but what for Desert Psychlist is the deal breaker on this tune is Horta and Ferreira's rhythmic chemistry, these two guys are the underground rock equivalent of legendary reggae rhythm masters Sly and Robbie, tight and solid when the groove calls for it, loose and languid when it doesn't.
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