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Rata Blanca is an Argentinean band lead by guitarist Walter Giardino and this is their second album, Magos, Espadas y Rosas. Two years after the debut the band has been through some changes, the biggest one being the inclusion of singer Adrián Balirali. Musically if someone told me that this is an Yngwie Malmsteen tribute band it would not be far off. Seriously, everything on this album sounds like the Swedish guitar god could have recorded it, although in all fairness he never made a song nearly as cool as the opener "La Leyenda del Hada y el Mago".

But this album is so much more than the aforementioned song; there is a nice mix of fast songs and ballads. Some are better than others but the quality in all them is outstanding, numbers like "El Beso de la Bruja" and "Días Duros" will bring a smile to any fan of the shredding guitar. The rest of the band takes a backseat to Giardino's playing the majority of the time but they never fade away from the music and Rata Blanca doesn't make the mistake of making this album a personal platform for the guitarist. Once in a while this changes, like the keyboard/guitar duel in "Haz tu Jugada" or the great bass lines in "Días Duros", adding a great effect to the songs.

This album is almost perfect; the most glaring weakness being finishing the album with two instrumentals. Don't get me wrong, they sound awesome, but if they were in a different place it would have made wonders. Also "Beso del Sol" is a tad too long. The songs are sung in Spanish so that may be a turnoff to people who don't speak the language. Rata Blanca includes a vast majority of topics but the most relevant theme is fantasy and epic tales (wizards, fairies, etc.). I wouldn't knock the band points off for that since the album was recorded in 1990 and back then nobody was doing stuff like this (Rhapsody should takes notes on how to write fantasy lyrics). In the end Magos, Espadas y Rosas could be Rata Blanca's best album. With its extended, magnificent and never boring guitar solos I can fully recommend this album to fans of Yngwie Malmsteen or people that want to hear unbelievable guitar playing.