Album review : LAGUNA – The Ghost Of Katrina

July 6th, 2025 by brianmc

Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25]

A choir and a spoken word intro, in Spanish, introduces us to Mexico’s rock festival junkies, Laguna.

And that’s the thing about putting the miles in. You learn what works and what doesn’t. Then you use all that in the studio.

They’ve now been picked up Frontiers Music – a label always alert to South America’s Rock and Metal music.

The debut album, ‘Ghost Of Katrina’ has been produced by One Desire’s guitarist/ songwriter, Jimmy Westerlund, and it’s a peach.

Born and raised in the arid desert area of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, Laguna’s band members learned early on that limited opportunities were no barrier to success.

And so the opening tracks, ‘Ghost Of Katrina’ and ‘Living On The Line’ are songs for those who can look back on the hardships of their youth and be thankful for those humble beginnings, and the friendships they formed.

Not to mention the defiance and drive they instilled, and that’s what you can hear on this album.

That mental attitude underlines the sense of liberation, of freedom, we can hear on tracks like the thrusting, frantic ‘Punk Boy’.

That’s not to say the band (and Westerlund) don’t have their melodic Rock antenna well tuned. A rock solid, rich seam of anthemic AOR weaves its way through the album.

The slo-mo stomping, stadium-filling anthem, ‘Wildfire’ and the blue collar, “us versus the man” sentiments of ‘These Chains’ evoke Bon Jovi. Nothing wrong with that of course, and in fact you have to stand back, and observe how well the the verve and pacing of these melodious work outs overcome their familiarity.

The quality dips a bit with the shouty, energetic ‘Electric High’. It’s hard and fast, but it’s a bit thin.

‘My Syndrome’ and ‘Bring Back To Life’ are full blown returns to the thunderous guitar / keys arena rock partnership of earlier tracks – the One Desire effect, and Westerlund captures it perfectly.

A band to watch. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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