POP MUSIC REVIEW : Heroes del Silencio Overplays Ties to English-Language Rock

Since the mid-’80s, Heroes del Silencio, a hard-rock quintet from Zaragoza, Spain, has been its country’s No. 1 group, and has also attracted huge followings all over Europe and in Mexico. The band’s Los Angeles debut Saturday at the Pantages Theatre drew a near-capacity, predominantly Mexican and Mexican American crowd, and the performance helped explain why it has sold nearly 2 million records worldwide.

The presentation of the Bob Ezrin-produced “Avalancha” (Avalanche), the group’s fourth and most solid album to date (and the only one available in the U.S., through I.R.S. Records), made for one of the loudest and best sounding rock en espanol shows in recent memory.

But despite the powerful performance and impressive technique (especially from lead guitarist Juan Valdivia), Heroes del Silencio has a problem--a sound that is full of references to established, English-language rock.

In recent years, the best Latin rockers have gained a reputation for abandoning the art of imitation in favor of more original, refreshing approaches. Heroes del Silencio, on the other hand, is strictly a crowd-pleasing, derivative guitar group with some genuinely good songs and a charismatic singer (Enrique Bunbury, a Jim Morrison look-alike). These Heroes are as predictable as they are skillful, and seem to believe that the closer they are to their own heroes the better.