El Reloj - La Esencia Es La Misma (Argentina - Heavy Prog - 1983)

Such a weak and isolated album in the El Reloj discography, barely 31 minutes of prog rock, quite old-fashioned for 1983, and with some "80s" device added to the sound. This third album was a comeback for this band after long years, devised by guitarist & main man Willy Gardi, and featuring a new line up, although listening to "La esencia es la misma" I realize that their 70s' stuff was quite better.

Here

El Reloj - El Reloj II (Argentina - Heavy Prog - 1976)

The second album of this Argentine band, El Reloj, succinctly entitled "El Reloj II", is pretty less interesting than the self-titled debut; the songs are less inspired, with many progressive-jazzy moments, and again very good musicianship.
Nonetheless being a good-quality work, the songwriting gets too abstruse, and everything seems to turn around the progressive instrumental passages and the excesses of virtuoso.
Even so there is time for some real good song, among these 10 cuts that make up "El Reloj II", such the 11-minute "La ciudad desconocida" (the unknown city), fine track, though dark, like the whole album.
"Harto y confundido" is another enjoyable track, with more of the jazzy vibe that dominates the record, and lyrics about the psychologic and the obscure, but little more actually.
Admittedly "El Reloj II" is quite a pompous album, but is a nocturnal pomposity, arcane, full of a heavy prog/jazz and istrumental tracks that are mostly dissatisfying. Good quality, complex and overall dark, though not really focusing on a real good songwriting: so might be described this "El Reloj II", the album cover and its intriguing and night-time feel keep some appeal.

Here

El Reloj - El Reloj (Argentina - Heavy Prog - 1975)

The self-titled, debut album of  this band from Buenos Aires, Argentina: El Reloj, features a 70s hard rock, with echoes of Deep Purple especially; and also certain progressive rock touches, and Black Sabbath specks intertwined in its aural recipe; nonetheless the personality of the band is stronger than its influences, staying quite far from the cheap mimicry.
El Reloj were a quintet: Osvaldo Zabala on rhythm guitar, Eduardo Frezza on vocals and bass, Luis Valenti on keyboards, Juan 'Locomotora' Espósito on drums (later in Boxer and the Pappo's band), and the late Willy Gardi on the lead guitar; the musicianship is a bit 'pretentious' for the hard rock standards, though very good of course, and the songs are compelling enough: "Obertura/El viejo Serafín", "Hijo del sol y de la tierra", the great "Alguien más en quien confiar" (featuring a long organ intro), or the long "Blues del atardecer", all these are more than good cuts of  mid 70s heavy rock, always with an indistinctly melancholic mood, and overall showcasing shifting tempos, sometimes a little abstruse, borderline (or decidedly) progressive.
"Blues del atardecer", which ends in a long drums' solo, flows into the last track: "Haciendo blues y jazz", a bit less interesting than the rest of the album and, as its title says, hard rock with a bluesy and jazzy savour.
In spite of the rather weak vocals of Eduardo Frezza, "El Reloj" is a robust album of 70s hard rock, indisputably good in songwriting and musicianship.
The CD editions come enhanced with 4 bonus tracks: two alt. versions of songs included on the original vinyl, and two tracks more, that belong to an old single: "El mandato/Vuelve el día a reinar".

Here

Pinnacle - Assasin (UK - Heavy Prog - 1974)

Actually, more of a prog rock album with some hard rock leanings. The keyboards (Farfisa organ and moog) pretty much carry this one. The vocals are a bit on the weak side, but musically it’s fairly strong for a low-budget prog album. Would have definitely been better had they had a Hammond (and better production), it would have set these songs to “kill,” not merely “stun.” Skip’em and stick with the main album tracks.

These guys where certainly onto a fairly early metal sound somewhat similar to early Judas Priest and Deep Purple, although I'm pretty sure this bands real biggest influence was the mighty Hawkwind.

Here