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**Amaral - Hacia Lo Salvaje**
★★★★☆

There's something beautifully defiant about Amaral's decision to strip everything back to its primal essence on "Hacia Lo Salvaje" – their seventh studio album that finds the Aragonese duo Eva Amaral and Juan Aguirre embracing their wildest instincts after nearly two decades of crafting some of Spain's most sophisticated pop-rock anthems. Following 2015's "Nocturno," which saw them exploring darker, more introspective territories, this 2017 offering feels like a deliberate shedding of skin, a conscious return to the raw emotional core that first made them darlings of the Spanish alternative scene.

The album's genesis traces back to a period of creative restlessness for the pair, who'd grown weary of the polished production values that had defined their recent work. Retreating to their home studio in Zaragoza, they embarked on what Eva describes as "an archaeological dig into our own sound," stripping away layers of orchestration and digital manipulation to rediscover the electric chemistry that sparked their initial collaborations in the late '90s. The result is their most visceral collection since "Estrella de Mar," pulsing with an urgency that feels both nostalgic and revolutionary.

Musically, "Hacia Lo Salvaje" occupies a fascinating middle ground between indie rock authenticity and mainstream accessibility. Aguirre's guitar work has rarely sounded more vital, trading his usual textural approach for something more direct and confrontational. The production, handled by the band themselves alongside longtime collaborator Cameron Jenkins, favours warmth over precision, allowing Eva's vocals to breathe naturally within arrangements that feel lived-in rather than constructed. It's guitar music for grown-ups who refuse to act their age – sophisticated enough for wine bars, primal enough for festival mud.

The album's opening salvo, "Marta, Sebas, Guille y los Demás," immediately establishes this newfound rawness with its driving rhythm and Eva's most passionate vocal performance in years. It's a love letter to youth and friendship that manages to avoid saccharine nostalgia through sheer emotional honesty. "Ruido" follows as perhaps the album's most complete statement – a meditation on modern anxiety wrapped in irresistible hooks, with Aguirre's guitar lines dancing between melody and noise in ways that justify the track's title.

The title track itself proves to be the album's emotional centrepiece, a six-minute epic that builds from whispered confessions to full-throated declarations of independence. Eva's lyrics here are particularly striking, mixing Spanish and fragments of English in ways that feel natural rather than forced, while the arrangement grows organically from acoustic intimacy to electric catharsis. It's the sound of a band remembering why they fell in love with making music together.

"Tarde" offers the collection's most tender moment, a gorgeous ballad that showcases Eva's remarkable ability to convey vulnerability without sacrificing strength. The track's minimal arrangement – essentially just voice, guitar, and subtle percussion – creates space for one of her most nuanced performances, while Aguirre's restraint demonstrates a maturity that younger bands would do well to study.

Not every experiment succeeds entirely. "Como Hablar" feels slightly undercooked compared to the surrounding material, and the album's sequencing occasionally disrupts its emotional flow. But these are minor quibbles with a collection that succeeds brilliantly in its primary mission: reminding us why Amaral became essential listening in the first place.

The album's legacy has proven both immediate and enduring. Upon release, it topped Spanish charts and earned widespread critical acclaim, but more importantly, it revitalized Amaral's creative partnership at a time when many long-running bands struggle with artistic stagnation. The accompanying tour saw them playing to their largest audiences in years, with the new material translating beautifully to live performance.

"Hacia Lo Salvaje" stands as proof that artistic maturity doesn't require abandoning passion – sometimes it means rediscovering it. In choosing to go wild rather than play it safe, Amaral created their most vital statement in over a decade, a reminder that the best music often comes from following instinct rather than expectation. It's an album that rewards both casual listening and deep engagement, marking not an ending but a thrilling new chapter in one of Spanish rock's most enduring partnerships.