Bienvenidos A La Época Iconoclasta / Bienvenidos A La Epoca Iconoclasta

Los Delinqüentes carried on for a bit longer after co-founding bandmember Miguel A. Benítez died tragically on July 6, 2004. Reduced to the core duo of Marcos del Ojo and Diego Pozo, they completed their third album, El Verde Rebelde Vuelve (2005), with the help of all-star guests Bebe, Kiko Veneno, and Diego Carrasco, and Raimundo Amador. Then they released the greatest-hits compilation Recuerdos Garrapateros de la Flama y el Carril (2006), which included a bit of new material. Other than some guest features on the albums of others, however, Los Delinqüentes took a few years off and left some fans wondering if the band would ever regroup and release another album of new material. So it was with great fanfare that Los Delinqüentes returned at last with Bienvenidos a la Época Iconoclasta, their first album of all-new material in four years. Like its predecessor, Bienvenidos a la Época Iconoclasta finds a number of guests teaming up with the duo, most notably Latin pop superstar Julieta Venegas, who lends her vocals to "¿Quién Es Más Poderoso el Aire o el Fuego?," one of the album's several highlights. It's one of many upbeat songs on Bienvenidos a la Época Iconoclasta, an often irreverent and freewheeling album that's simply a lot of fun. Sometimes tagged as a flamenco fusion band, Los Delinqüentes switch styles at a dizzying pace on the album, which defies easy stylistic categorization as it bounces around from rock, pop, and folk to flamenco, rhumba, and reggae. In addition to the Venegas collaboration, "El Increíble Gorrión Mojado," one of the album's more straightforward flamenco fusion numbers, is another highlight, as is "Dame una Pista." While Bienvenidos a la Época Iconoclasta isn't going to overshadow the towering legacy of the band's pair of albums with Benítez, the classics El Sentimiento Garrapatero Que Nos Traen las Flores (2001) and Arquitectura del Aire en la Calle (2003), it's a welcome return for Los Delinqüentes that finds them in fine form and in a positive frame of mind. Longtime fans should rejoice.