A CELEBRATION:
FORTY YEARS OF ITALIAN PROGROCK 1969 - 2009
(by Erik Neuteboom)
(edited by Peter Willemsen)
The chapters:
1) Introduction
2) The Classic Era: 1969 - 1979
3) The Years Between 1980 and 2002
4) Interesting New Bands and New Releases Between 2003 and 2009
5) Reunions of Legendary and Popular Bands In The Last Decade
6) Compilations and Special Projects
7) DVD’s
8) My Personal 1969 – 2009 Italian Prog rock Album Top 20
9) Epilogue
Chapter 4:
Interesting New Bands and New Releases Between 2003 and 2009
VIII Strada - La Leggenda Della Grande Porta (2009)
This Italian five-piece was founded in 1994, but a few years ago, the line-up
changed radically. Only two founding members survived. On their website, I
found these comments about the music on their debut album
La Leggenda Della Grande Porta: “
VIII Strada
is a musical workshop where harmony, sounds and words
are forged together to create songs whose essential aim is to transmit a state
of mind and share emotions with the listener. VIII Strada is classified as
progressive rock, but their music has been strongly influenced by the various
musical tastes and experiences of its members.
The VIII Strada sound has an unmistakable symphonic-classical influence
mixed with the raw energy of rock. VIII Strada’s music overcomes the barriers
of categorization and, especially when performed live, a greater contact is
established with the audience, the listener finds it easily interpreted and
emotionally enthralling. Let’s rock!”
Well,
listening to the melodic and accessible music on their debut album, I conclude
that VII Strada rocks indeed. In general, VIII Strada is scouting the borders
between heavy prog and prog metal, but fortunately without the boring cascades
of scale-acrobatics in an exciting way. Their music is very dynamic, powerful,
bombastic, has lots of shifting moods, breaks and sensational accelerations,
powerful Italian vocals with passion and a powerhouse rhythm-section. However,
the focus is on the sensational guitar work:
propulsive riffs and many fiery, howling and blistering solos, often in
great interplay with the sparkling grand piano. That is the trademark of VIII
Strada and I love it! Sometimes the band plays mellow featuring warm acoustic
guitar, tender piano and dreamy vocals like in the title track and in
Laguna Di Giada. Even the short piece
Amencer contains a wonderful duet
between tango-like piano and classical guitar. This is an exciting CD to check
out for the heavy prog and prog metal fans and for prog heads that don’t have a
problem with harder-edged prog rock!
AINUR - From Ancient Times (2007)
New band Ainur hosts many musicians on
instruments that range from violin, harp and flute to baritone,
Moog-synthesizer and clarinet. Their debut album
From Ancient Times is based upon Tolkien’s book The Silmarillion.
The books of Tolkien are not unusual in prog! During my first listening
session, I got more and more impressed by Ainur’s album. What a pleasant and
elaborate compositions featuring very flowing shifting moods and lots of
variation. The atmospheres in the eleven tracks alternate between dreamy with
twanging acoustic guitars, flute, harp and piano to compelling and bombastic
with protrusive electric guitar riffs and fluent synthesizer flights. Both male
and female vocals play an important role in Ainur’s sound and even a baritone
who sounds like an opera vocalist. Some songs contain great variety like
The Fall Of Nargochrond: from sparkling
piano to propulsive and bombastic with fat guitar riffs and delicate
synthesizer runs along strong male vocals, The
Fall Of Gondolin with changing atmospheres and
War Of Wrath
with sparkling piano, fiery guitar, a sensational
synthesizer solo and howling guitar runs. From
Ancient Times
is a tasteful album that combines symphonic prog, folk and
classical in a pleasant way.
ARCHANGEL - The Akallabeth (2009)
This is the first solo album by keyboard player
Gabriele Manzini who joined The Watch
between 2000 and 2005. Nowadays he’s a member of
Ubi Maior that released their excellent second album
Senza Tempo in 2009. Gabriele has
invited well-known singers as Damian
Wilson (Threshold, Landmarq,
Ayreon,
Rick Wakeman), Zachary Stevens (Savatage,
between 1993 and 2000) and Ted Leonard (Enchant)
alongside a wide range of guest musicians,
including his friends of Ubi Maior and several ex-members of The Watch.
In comparison with his band Ubi Maior, the sound of
Archangel on The Akallabeth is
more in the realm of heavy prog and melodic rock. The twelve songs on
The Akallabeth have been tastefully
arranged with strong vocal contributions, splendid harder-edged guitar work and
wonderful work on a wide range of vintage keyboards. These elements remind me
of the sound of fellow Dutchman Arjen Lucassen
with his project Ayreon.
Especially the double album Into The Electric Castle,
but less bombastic and less focused on guitar. In my
opinion, Gabriele is a more elaborate composer. Just listen to
The Shade Of Numenor with an exciting
blend of sparkling grand piano, propulsive guitar riffs, a sensitive electric
guitar solo and finally fiery guitar runs with floods of Hammond organ. In
Raise The Sword and
Lidless Eye,
it is Hammond, Moog and mellotron time. The album also
contains the wonderful ballads Power Within,
from acoustic rhythm guitar with
mellotron violins to a great MiniMoog solo and
Red Clouds War with dreamy tender piano and soaring keyboards to a
slow rhythm with an awesome mellotron sound and a MiniMoog solo with heavy
guitar riffs.
The Downfall: 39 Days Of Madness
is compelling and varied with a strong contribution of Damian
Wilson and majestic mellotron choir drops. The final composition is
The Price with dreamy piano and warm
vocals, a slow rhythm with a sensitive guitar solo and finally a bombastic part
featuring mellotron choirs, emotional vocals and a moving guitar solo. Goose
bumps!
If you like
heavy prog and keyboard-oriented melodic rock, I’m sure that especially the
fans of Ayreon and Uriah Heep will
be pleased with the sound of Archangel. This is an album to discover, because
this music deserves more attention!
AREKNAMES - Areknames (2003)
Areknames is a trio featuring
Michele Epifani
(keyboards, guitars and vocals) as the musical
brainchild. On their eponymous debut album, we can enjoy pleasant prog rock
that frequently alternates from mellow or compelling to sumptuous delivering a
lush organ sound and melancholic vocals. In general, the compositions have been
based upon creating symphonic landscapes with analogue keyboards like the
Hammond, Farfisa, mellotron and Fender Rhodes electric piano. The electric
guitar work is sensitive and is in combination with the lush organ sound a very
compelling element. Although sometimes my attention faded away, the music of
Areknames contains many strong breaks and captivating accelerations and
changing atmospheres. The information booklet mentions many bands that were an
inspiration, in my opinion Van Der Graaf Generator,
early Pink Floyd,
Atomic Rooster and
Il Balletto Di Bronzo
were the main inspirational sources. This is
not a very memorable or inventive album, but if you like to dream away on
keyboard-oriented prog, this CD is a pleasant surprise.
AREKNAMES – Live At Burg Herzberg Festival 2007 (2007)
This live album of Areknames
was recorded during the Burg
Herzberg Festival 2007. I hope a DVD will follow soon: what a stunning sound!
Dateless Diary:
after a dreamy atmosphere with wonderful
mellotron violins and rather melancholic vocals evoking Peter Hamill, we can
enjoy powerful Hammond organ, propulsive guitar work and fat synthesizer
flights in a compelling atmosphere. In the end, the dreamy atmosphere returns
delivering mellotron, Hammond and fluent electric guitar.
A Prison That Few Can See:
the first part is mellow, the music reminds me of
Anekdoten because of the
mellotron violin and the warm but a bit dark vocals. Gradually the sound
becomes lush with powerful Hammond waves, strong drumming and howling electric
guitar runs, followed by a long and very compelling Hammond solo similar to
Dave Greenslade’s work in
Colosseum and
Greenslade.
A New Song
starts with a slow rhythm and fragile guitar play, mellow organ and
warm vocals again evoking Anekdoten, then a mid-tempo with majestic Hammond and
powerful guitar, culminating in a kind of bombastic psychedelia. Again, we can
enjoy a long Hammond solo, this time swirling with great support of the rhythm
section. The final part contains soaring mellotron. Although it is short, I get
goose bumps!
Outcast
is a short piece that sounds a bit psychedelic with propulsive drums,
fiery vocals, heavy guitar and hypnotizing organ work. It reminds me of early
Italian gem Il Balletto Di Bronzo.
Very dynamic! In Boredom, the focus
is again on the Hammond alongside a sensitive electric guitar solo, fat synthesizer
flights and wonderful mellotron violins. You hear fluent runs, sumptuous
eruptions and a swirling solo with psychedelic undertones. This man knows how
to push the right keys! Don't expect elaborate music, but let you carry
away by Areknames’ compelling vintage sound, loaded with mind-lowing work on
the Hammond organ!
ARIES - Aries (2005)
Incredible,
but here’s another new and promising one-shot-band from Italy. This six-piece
band delivers a wonderful album that blends rock, folk and symphonic in a very
compelling way. Sometimes the music is warm, mellow almost fragile with
beautiful piano, acoustic guitar and flute. In other songs, we hear symphonic
rock featuring some splendid synthesizer soli. The guitar work is excellent;
some sensitive solos remind me of Neil Young’s raw and moving style. All six
compositions are topped by a great vocal performance of
Simone Angioloni.
This is one of the best female voices since
Annie Haslam. Highly recommended!
(IL) BACIO DELLA MEDUSA – Il Bacio Della Medusa (2004)
During the first two songs on this album new band Il
Bacio Della Medusa
present mainly hard rock inspired songs with raw Italian
vocals, biting guitar, propulsive guitar riffs and a thunderous rhythm section.
From the third song, however, Il Bacio Della Medusa starts to deliver exciting
heavy prog. There are parts with dreamy acoustic guitar and flute and heavy
ones with propulsive guitar riffs, fiery vocals, powerful flute and acoustic
guitar. Scorticamento Di Marsia (Part I/IV)
has emotional vocals and a sparkling flute, fiery saxophone, a jazzy
bass and heavy guitar in a warm sound with an omnipresent harmonica. We hear
the Latin-American charango in Il Vino
(Breve Delirio Del Vino),
emotional vocals and a final part with heavy guitar and fiery drums. In
Cantico Del Poeta Errante (Part I/III)
we can enjoy mellow flute and acoustic guitar to
heavy with fiery guitar and a propulsive rhythm section. However, my highlight
is the final track Cantico Del Poeta
Errante (Part I/II)
built around a swinging rhythm in which a flamenco
rhythm is blended in a very exciting way. We can enjoy lots of captivating
shifting moods and a lush instrumentation, from organ and biting guitar to
folky mandolin and exotic conga’s. Great! This is no easy prog, but if you are
up to a thrilling musical adventure this band is yours!
(IL) BACIO DELLA MEDUSA – Discesa Agl’Inferi D’Un Giovane Amante (2008)
Four years after their promising eponymous debut album, six piece
Il Bacio Della Medusa
released their second album
Discesa Agl’Inferi D’Un Giovane Amante
in 2008. Meanwhile, the saxophone player has been replaced by a violinist and
the drummer/keyboard player extended his array of keyboards, especially the
distinctive Hammond organ is omnipresent on this new album. The twelve tracks on this concept album sound more elaborate and refined than on the promising debut album. What a tension, dynamics, captivating breaks and changing climates, strong solos on guitar and keyboards and what an inspired Italian vocals! A very strong element in Il Bacio Della Medusa’s sound is the ‘Holy Trinity’ of the fiery guitar, the swirling flute and the powerful Hammond organ. Ricordi Del Supplizio sounds like a hot heavy prog jam session featuring Jon Lord
and Ian Anderson,
splendid! Another strong element is the tension between the mellow parts with
flute, acoustic guitar, grand piano, violin and warm vocals and the heavy
interludes with bombastic keyboards, harder-edged guitar and raw vocals like in
Nostalgia, Pentimento E Rabbia and
Nosce Te Ipsum: La Bestia Ringhia In Noi.
The music delivers lots of variety: from grand piano with violin and pleasant
vocals in Confessione D’Un Amante and
a duet with saxophone and fiery guitar in E
Fu Allora Che Dalle Fiamme Mi Sorprese Una Calda Brezza Celeste to
wonderful interplay between grand piano, violin and choir in the moving
Corale Per Messa Da Requiem. I had
almost tears in my eyes... what an emotion this song evokes! To me this album
sounds as one of the best Italian prog rock albums I’ve heard in the last ten
years. Highly recommended! CAGE – Secret Passage (2008)
Cage
was founded in 1987. Soon they took part in
several shows, festivals and competitions in cities like Sienna, Rome and
Milan. In 1992, Cage got a contract from the label Toast in Torino and in the
same year, they released the single View.
A year later Cage released their first album entitled
The Feebleminded Man.
In 1994, Cage appeared on the Italian TV with
a video clip, but later that year several members decided to work on their own musical
ideas. However, in 2000 they joined again and devoted themselves to a new
project that can be heard on the demo that Cage recorded in March 2001. In
2003, the band released 87/94
containing six songs recorded between 1987 and 1994. The songs have a lot of
tension between the mellow parts and the bombastic parts with harder-edged
guitar work, tastefully arranged with dual-keyboard play of organ, piano,
mellotron and synthesizers. Since that promising album, we had to wait five
years until Musea released Secret Passage,
their latest effort to date.This new album features dual-keyboard play as well ( Alessandro Bugliani and Claudio Franciosi) and a guest-musician on flute in one track. Three songs are recorded in 2007, four in 2008 and M31 is a live track ‘of some years ago, somewhere’ as the band writes in the booklet. I must say, that I’m impressed by the variety in the eight compositions, the musical skills of the musicians and the awesome interplay of which The Scream is the best example. In comparison with 87/94, Cage delivers a more jazz-rock-oriented sound in Movements with delicate fretless bass work and in Bitter Honey with a flashy synthesizer solo and a hard-edged guitar solo. Marta has a subtle volume pedal guitar, sparkling piano and a strong build-up with exciting interplay between guitar and organ. Time To Go Back Home delivers a great dynamic atmosphere in the end and on the live track M31, we can enjoy an exciting guitar solo and omnipresent electric piano work. The title track is a solo piece on classical guitar in the vein of Steve Hackett and in The Scream, the vocals come pretty close to the voice of The Watch’s singer Simone Rossetti. In my opinion, Cage has made a captivating blend of classic prog and jazz-rock, more mature and elaborated than ever before!
(IL) CASTELLO DI ATLANTE – Concerto Acustico (2006)
I’m
familiar with this band since their debut album in the early nineties. Because
the Italian prog is so prolific, you have to make choices and I decided to
check out other bands. Therefore, after all these years, this is my first
renewed musical encounter with Il Castello Di Atlante.
The five musicians deliver an unplugged concert,
recorded halfway 2006 in Italy. I love unplugged gigs because of the surprising
elements like on the unplugged albums by Nirvana,
Golden Earring,
Neil Young and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Let’s return to prog. Over one hour the band plays violin-drenched
music featuring a wonderful harmony between all the instruments like piano,
drums and guitars along warm, a bit melancholic vocals. Some songs contain
pleasant soli on piano and acoustic guitar and we can also enjoy a few accelerations
like in the catchy Semplice Ma Non Troppa
with strong hints from PFM. If you
like folky inspired prog, this CD will please you.
(IL) CASTELLO DI ATLANTE – Capitolo 7 - Tra Le Antiche Mura (2009)
This fine Italian band started in 1974, but it took eighteen years before
Il Castello Di Atlante
presented their first album
Sono Io Il Signore Delle Terre A Nord.
In 2004 the band released their fifth and previous studio-album
Quintessenza.
Il Castello Di Atlante also performed in Mexico on the annual
Baja Prog Festival and recently in Japan. However, the most remarkable fact is
that this new album was recorded with all members of the original seventies
line-up including bass player Dino Fiore
who returned recently!Since I started to write reviews about prog rock music in the early nineties for Background Magazine, Il Castello Di Atlante is one of those bands I frequently stumbled upon from the very first beginning. Listening to their new album, their sound is still a very melodic and harmonic blend of seventies symphonic and neo-symphonic rock with hints to early Marillion. Most of the alternating compositions clock between ten and twenty minutes, featuring shifting moods, often compelling interplay between sensitive electric guitar and varied keyboards and warm, melancholic Italian vocals. The band is at their best in the tasteful mixture of classical instruments like piano, guitar and violin with modern keyboards: bombastic church-organ, fat synthesizer flights, tender grand piano and delicate harpsichord. Although I miss specific highlights, this album sounds as pleasant prog rock that will please the more romantic oriented prog heads among us.
(IL) CERCHIO D’ORO – Il Viaggio Di Colombo (2008)
The Italian formation Il Cerchio D’Oro was
founded in 1974. They started as a
trio, but a year later a second keyboard player and a guitarist joined the
band. Unfortunately, they only released three singles in the late seventies. In
1999, the Italian prog rock label Mellow Records released an album with twelve
tracks recorded in the mid-seventies. In 2005, Psych-Out released the LP
La Quadratura Del Cerchio.
It contains nine, unreleased recordings including
original material and covers of Le Orme,
New Trolls and The
Trip.
In 2006, Il Cerchio D'Oro reformed with the original line-up and in
2008, they released their first studio album, the concept
Il Viaggio Di Colombo. And what a wonderful layout this album has! A fold-cover with sketches that take you away to the time that Columbus set sail to America and met the native Indians, an encounter of two different worlds. On this first studio album, Il Cerchio D’Oro sounds melodic and accessible in the thirteen alternating songs with passionate Italian vocals from drummer Gino Terribile, bass player Guiseppe Terribile and guitarist Piuccio Pradal. Sometimes you hear a typical classic Italian prog rock atmosphere like in the bonus track Futuro Prossimo. A strong feature of their music is the way they colour their tasteful arrangements with strong and varied guitar work and keyboards. You can enjoy a slow rhythm with sensitive electric guitar or a dreamy atmosphere with twelve-string acoustic guitars, but also mid-tempo pieces with swinging piano and bombastic atmospheres with powerful organ (Franco Piccolini). It is hard to mention absolute highlights, because Il Cerchio D’Oro arranged the thirteen compositions on this new CD in a very tasteful manner. You can enjoy lots of shifting moods and nice musical ideas, especially the guitar pieces. Two members play acoustic and electric guitar and Guiseppe Terribile plays besides the bass also twelve-string acoustic guitar and keyboards. They all give Il Viaggio Di Colombo an extra dimension.
CONQUEROR – 74 Giorni (2007)
After their debut album Istinto
(2003) and his successor Storie Fuori Dal Tempo
(2005), five-piece band Conqueror
released their third studio effort in 2007. Again the band made a remarkable
progress. I’m even impressed by the ten melodic, tasteful and varied
compositions of which some are instrumental. They deliver a wide range of
instruments: a wonderful blend of soaring keyboards, powerful bass runs, a
tight drumbeat and sensitive electric guitar in
Il Viaggio. There are many shifting moods and pleasant guitar work
and flutes in Orca, a sixties-like
organ sound in The Animals/The Doors
and wah-wah guitar and fluent synthesizer flights in the alternating
Non Maturi per l'Adilà. The short track
Cormonrani delivers romantic piano. You
can enjoy tasteful keyboards and varied guitar work from heavy riffs to the use
of the tremolo in L'ora Del Parlare.
Fender Rhodes piano and jazzy guitar are omnipresent in the short
Miraggi. In the captivating song
Nebbia Ad Occhi Chiusi we hear a
sensational MiniMoog-like sound and a compelling part with raw guitars and
soaring flutes. The album has lots of variety and solos on different
instruments. This album grows every listening session and I’m sure it will
carry you away to prog heaven!CORAL CAVES - Mitapoiesi (2008)
Coral Caves
is a new five-piece formation, founded in 2001
and inspired by the late sixties and seventies progressive rock. Coral Caves
even started as a Pink Floyd tribute
band! It took four years before the band managed to complete their first series
of compositions and in 2006 they released four songs on a self-produced EP. At
the same time Coral Caves did a mini-tour near Palermo, the capital of the
southern Italian island Sicily. Their music is still rooted in the Classic prog
era, but with a more modern touch. One year later the band went into the studio
in order to record their debut album Mitapoiesi.
This album is a wonderful, compelling debut on the verge of neo-prog and
symphonic rock. The warm native vocals add a ‘healthy Italian prog rock factor’
to the music. The sound on the nine compositions is very melodic and
accessible, from dreamy with flute and acoustic guitar to tight mid-tempo
rhythms and bombastic eruptions with a tasteful keyboard colouring by the
Hammond, the mellotron and the Moog. However, the nucleus of this album is
obviously the excellent duo-guitar work: biting wah-wah drenched in
Sorridi, Santana-inspired in
Cliff Of Moher,
Gilmourian in Senza Di Me and
Ricordi and many moving solos
with often howling runs in most of the tracks. Shivers down my spine! 
My highlights are Senza Di Me with a
great build-up from mellow with twanging guitars to bombastic with a wonderful
vintage keyboard sound, beautiful guitar and emotional vocals. The second one
is the long and alternating final composition
Il Dolce Canto Della Terra. It starts with a slow rhythm with organ
and warm vocals blended with dreamy parts featuring classical flute and guitar.
In the middle section we hear a moving guitar solo culminating in a very
compelling final part with fat synthesizer flights and a sensitive electric
guitar solo accompanied by a lush organ sound. Goose bumps!I’m sure this wonderful debut album by Coral Caves will please both the sympho maniacs and the neo-prog heads. Recently I asked prime mover and multi-instrumentalist Pietro Saviano about the current situation of Coral Caves:
“At this moment we are organizing some gigs in Sicily in order to promote the album. That’s not easy because the prog is not fashionable, but we'll get in the spotlights. Additionally we are working on Marillion’s Lavender and Peter Gabriel’s Here Comes The Flood for the Mellow Records tribute album of Marillion and solo work of Genesis. We have ideas and material enough for a second album!! We only need time and, above all, money in order to record it….”
DELIRIUM - Il Nome Del Viento (2009)
In 2006, Delirium
pleasantly surprised the prog
rock world with a stunning reunion gig, while the band was working on a new
album. Well, in 2009 Delirium released that eagerly awaited new album. What an
awesome sound these prog rock veterans created on
Il Nome Del Viento!While listening to this new album, I recognized the best elements of their seventies albums, but at a higher level. To me the compositions sound more mature, more elaborate and more captivating thanks to their experience over the years. There is a perfect balance between the instruments, between the mellow and dynamic parts and between folk, symphonic rock and jazz-(rock). Especially in the tracks Dopo Il Vento, with very dynamic and wonderful colouring guitar, flute, sax and piano, and Cuore Sacro with great tension between parts with powerful organ and warm piano. Also interesting is the use of a string quartet in some songs and I’m delighted with the Italian vocals. I’m curious about Delirium’s future after they returned from the past thanks to Black Widow Records. This Italian label gives prog rock talent a chance, even if these talents are over fifty!
DORACOR - Evanescenze (2005)
This album of Doracor
sounds far from original,
complex or adventurous, but I love the 24-carat symphonic rock sound! Most of
the compositions contain a pleasant atmosphere featuring warm Italian vocals
and wonderful work on keyboards, evoking early IQ
and Pendragon, mid-
Genesis and Banco.
The colouring of the songs is great delivering fat
synthesizer flights, sensitive piano, organ waves or howling electric guitar.
The music often sounds bombastic, but also mellow or swinging, layered with great
keyboard work and guitar. Very convincing!FAVERAVOLA – Contea Dei Cento Castagni (2006)
This is a
‘new’ band although the musicians are veterans who made already music in the
seventies. Their debut album is a concept featuring
Aldo Tagliapietra from the legendary band
Le Orme doing the narration. The twelve melodic and tastefully
arranged compositions sound very pleasant with the emphasis on creating a warm
atmosphere by lush organ waves, sensitive electric guitar and inspired vocals.
To me the songs evoke the debut albums by Men Of Lake
and Abiogenesi and the
sound of famous seventies Italian prog bands
Metamorfosi (E Fiu Il Geste Giorno)
and Celeste. The
integration of instruments like the violin, acoustic guitar and flute give the
music a folky and Medieval touch. These moments you can dream away by the
wonderful cover painting featuring a knight on a horse, on his way up to a
castle in a green landscape. In general, the music sounds mellow and dreamy but
some tracks contain bombastic eruptions or accelerations delivering powerful
soli on organ and guitar. My highlights are La
Foresta Degli Elfi Alati
with beautiful interplay between guitar and organ,
La Piana Dei Temoli Del Livenza with
soaring keyboards and moving violin and Danza
Di Messer Reale E Madonna Fantasia
with a wonderful harpsichord-like sound in a Medieval atmosphere. Leggenda Delle Foglia is another highlight with strong vocals and a great synthesizer solo and the bombastic Finally Neorinascimento with propulsive and fiery guitar and powerful organ waves. Don't expect complex music like Gentle Giant, virtuosic soli like ELP or dynamic songs like Rush, just enjoy the warm and pleasant atmosphere. Perhaps we can create the category ‘pastoral prog’ for this beautiful music.
FINISTERRE - La Meccanica Naturale (2004)
Shame on
me, I must have overlooked this Italian gem! I only knew this band by name! I
got this Finisterre album from a
friend and it blew me away. The alternating music is so captivating and the ten
compositions are very tasteful and elaborate. Some songs remind me of the
famous seventies Italians prog rock legends PFM,
Banco en
Museo Rosenbach, but Finisterre manages
to surprise me again and again with musical twists and turns, great! Other
tracks have very different atmospheres: from classical piano and trombone (!)
to jazzy piano with wah-wah guitar and mellotron. The final three songs deliver
great build-ups and splendid grand finales featuring fiery electric guitar,
lush keyboards and inspired vocals. The music on this album is not always
accessible, but it has many wonderful moments. A ‘must have’ for every Italian
prog rock aficionado!GAN EDEN: GIARDINO DELLE DELIZIE - Lavori in Corso (2007)
This is
another wonderful packaged CD from the Italian Btf-label, featuring a booklet
with a lot of information and a cover that stimulates your fantasy. This new
band ‘with the long name’ is the brainchild of keyboardist and composer
Angelo Santo Lombardi, together with
musicians on acoustic- and electric guitar, drums, bass and vocals. The first
album I Giorni Di Eurisko (2004) was
released under his own name, but the second effort
Lavori In Corso is presented as
Gan Eden: Giardino Delle Delizie.The music is obviously rooted in the 24-carat symphonic prog tradition of the seventies, mainly because of the frequent use of vintage keyboards like Hammond and MiniMoog. After a few listening sessions, I noticed a huge difference of composing quality between the first and final track! The opener Dolce Brezza starts in a pleasant atmosphere, but goes on and on without any tension or musical ideas. Only the final part delivers a sensitive electric guitar solo and a fluent shifting mood with tasteful piano and organ, but a duration of ten minutes is excessively long for this track. The final composition I Take All The Way highlights Gan Eden at their best: lots of variety and dynamics, exciting work on guitar and keyboards. We hear sparkling grand piano, fat MiniMoog flights, a sensitive electric guitar solo, a fluent rhythm-section and organ play that strongly reminded me of famous Le Orme (Collage-era). The other four songs sound pleasant and melodic with a tasteful colouring by the guitar and keyboards like warm grand piano, fat MiniMoog runs and a pipe organ interlude in the title track. You can enjoy slow and fat MiniMoog flights, howling guitar and sparkling piano in La Canzione Della Bimba and mellow Hammond runs with fiery guitar in E Dopa Il Vento. The Italian vocals on this album sound warm and inspired in the typical seventies Italian prog tradition like Metamorfosi and Le Orme. Apart from the first composition, I enjoyed this wonderful symphonic prog album. Especially recommended to fans of seventies Italian symphonic prog.
GAN EDEN : GIARDINO DELLE DELIZIE – Ritratto Di Ballerina (2009)
I was very
pleased with the lush vintage keyboard sound on Gan Eden’s previous album
Lavori In Corso. However, not all tracks
succeeded in keeping my attention. Listening to this new CD, I notice that the
five compositions, mainly symphonic rock, but also some experimental
interludes, sound more captivating and compelling. The focus is on the
impressive keyboards skills of Angelo
Santo Lombardi.
This album contains the vintage keyboard heaven: a majestic
church organ, sparkling and swinging grand piano, lush Hammond-organ, fat
MiniMoog flights and mighty mellotron choir eruptions. The interplay between
the keyboards, the guitar and the dynamic rhythm-section is exciting with hints
of Dutch band Trace. The atmosphere
is often bombastic or contains fluent rhythms with protrusive guitar riffs or
wah-wah guitar and sumptuous keyboards. Sometimes, the music turns to mellow
pieces, like in the virtuosic solo on the grand piano in the short
Impatsi Emotivi, which is a kind of
‘Emerson meets Rachmaninov’. In the epic Reazioni
A Catena
we hear a part with twanging electric guitar and a powerful bass
sound and in the final (ghost)-track Emozioni
featuring acoustic guitar, emotional vocals and beautiful classical
orchestrations! If you like classic Italian prog with strong native vocals and
lush vintage keyboards like early Le Orme,
Metamorfosi or
Rustichelli & Bordini, this is an album to check out!GERMINALE – Scogli Di Scabbia (2005)
The five-piece band Germinale delivers a
compilation album featuring previously unreleased songs (1998), tributes and
live tracks (2002). The four songs from 1998 sound melodic, fluent and have
been tastefully coloured with piano, guitar and flute work. The atmospheres
change from dreamy and moving to catchy mid-tempo. The female vocals are
decent, but I miss the typical Italian emotion. Germinale also recorded four
tribute songs. First The Knife
(Genesis) with some nice musical ideas,
but not really captivating. Wond'ring Aloud
( Jethro Tull)
sounds mellow with wonderful flute play. Dr. Diamond
(King Crimson)
with delicate howling electric guitar. Finally
La Battaglia Per Il Samp (Kalevala),
an alternating and dynamic
piece with sensitive electric guitar and pleasant flute work. The final part of
this album contains live material from 2002. In general, Germinale sounds warm
with fine interplay between acoustic and electric guitar, flute and piano. To
me it often sounds a bit too subdued but if you like mellow and romantic prog
this is a fine CD.GOAD – In The House Of Dark Shining Dreams (2006)
This project, rooted in the late seventies, is the brainchild of
multi-instrumentalist Maurilio Rossi
and his brother Gianni. Not until
1994 GOAD released their debut album entitled
Tribute To E.A. Poe.
More than ten years later and after six studio-albums,
GOAD recorded the live-album In The House
Of The Dark Shining Dreams.
Well, listening to this album, I have to
conclude that this is an extraordinary musical experience, to say the least!
Most of the songs sound ominous and hypnotizing with slow rhythms, raw and
fiery guitar work, protrusive drums and vocals that come pretty close to the
sound of somebody who’s on the edge of a nervous breakdown. What a spooky
voice! In some songs, we can enjoy the majestic sound of the church organ. At
those moments GOAD reminds me of the infamous ‘prog from hell’ by Jacula. It’s
no coincidence that GOAD decided to play 21st
Century Schizoid Man an ominous sounding
King Crimson- composition. The use of organ and synthesizers adds a
special flavour to this unique rendition. It’s no coincidence whatsoever that
GOAD decided to play some work of Wagner - the intro of the final track - with
the sound of a classical orchestra, very dark and ominous again. If you like
‘the dark side of Italian prog’, I’m sure this album will please you.HOSTSONATEN - Springtides (2004)
I only knew
this band by name, but they surprised me in a positive way with this
compilation album CD containing songs recorded between 1992 and 2002.
Brainchild of Hostsonaten is multi-
instrumentalist Fabio Zuffanti. In
the booklet he says: “These songs are taken from different kind of resources
(tapes, CD, DAT, etc.). The sound quality is not always excellent, but I hope
you like the music, because in these songs you will find the roots of the
Hostsonaten-works in the previous ten years. Thanks to you all!”Indeed, especially on the first track the recording quality is at bootleg level, but in general the sound is decent and certainly not disturbing, not for me anyway. The first three songs Ace Of Sunlight, Starfields and Seascape sound mellow featuring fine guitar and some saxophone and mellotron. Unfortunately, the English vocals are quite mediocre. If you are an Italian native, please sing in your wonderful language! The next track Season Of Eve is a bit bombastic mid-tempo piece with irritating computer drums, but they were only meant to explain the musicians how to play their parts. Aries is a very alternating song featuring church-organ and a fiery, rock and roll inspired guitar solo. Rainbow is an exciting composition with a sitar intro and then dynamic and sumptuous prog rock with duo-keyboards. Morning is a splendid track with wonderful flute samples, sensitive electric guitar, sparkling piano, impressive mellotron waves and many shifting moods. This is Hostsonaten at their best! In Living Stone And First Reprise we hear first a swinging rhythm with a strong bass sound and then an atmosphere delivering howling electric guitar and majestic mellotron choirs and beautiful piano. Just great! The last two songs, The Night The Moon Fell Down and Crossing The Bar contain acoustic guitar and vocals. One day these songs will appear on an entire acoustic album. After listening to this compilation, I will for sure try to listen to more albums from Hostsonaten!
HOSTSONATEN – Winterthrough (2008)
In 2004,
Hostsonaten released a compilation album that contains material recorded
between 1992 and 2002. I was very pleased with the music and therefore looking
forward to this new studio album, six years after their previous effort
entitled Springsong. You can divide
the ten compositions on this CD in seven shorter pieces, between 1 and 4
minutes, and three longer songs between 6 and 13 minutes. The shorter songs are
very tastefully coloured with a wide range of instruments, from frequently
twanging acoustic guitars and assorted percussion to electric guitar and piano,
vintage keyboards, woodwind - and brass instruments. The atmospheres change
from dreamy and compelling to mid-tempo. Snowstorm
has a strong final part delivering mellotron choirs, moving guitar work and
a fluent rhythm like in the short but exciting
Outside in which we can enjoy MiniMoog flights, mellotron choirs
and Moog Taurus bass pedals, like in the Wind
And Wuthering Genesis-era, I
love it! The three long compositions deserve to be described separately. The
first part of Entering The Halls Of Winter
sounds like a bolero with tender grand piano and then slowly other
instruments come up like soft drums, bass, mellotron violins and brass,
followed by heavy mellotron choirs and a compelling part with howling guitar
and propulsive drums. Finally, we hear wonderful interplay between piano,
clarinet and mellotron choirs, culminating in a grand finale with a French
horn. The track The Crystal Light
starts with lush mellotron choirs, followed by a slow rhythm turning into a
dreamy interlude with twanging guitars and a clarinet solo and ending up with
an exciting part featuring fluent drums, powerful Hammond and spoken words. The
long final composition is my highlight on this new Hostsonaten album: first a
slow rhythm with sensitive guitar and then splendid parts with breathtaking
interplay between grand piano and mellotron violins and sumptuous moments with
synthesizers, organ, mellotron choirs and howling guitar. This is prog heaven! I needed a few listening sessions to get into this new Hostsonaten CD, because I’m not a fan of woodwind and brass instruments, but now I’m carried away by this wonderful and pleasantly arranged blend of seventies inspired symphonic rock, classical music and folk. A big hand for Hostsonaten!
LONDON UNDERGROUND – Through A Glass Darkly (2003)
This is a musical project from drummer Daniel Caputo
and bass player Stefano Gabbani,
both member of the vintage keyboards-drenched prog rock trio
Standarte. On this album,
Gianni Vergelli joined them on acoustic
and electric guitar, Gianluca Gerlini
on Hammond, Fender and Wurlitzer electric piano, mellotron and clavinet and
some additional musicians on saxophone, flute and vocal harmonies. The eleven
tracks including covers from Manfred Mann
and Atomic Rooster, are
very melodic and harmonious with a lush Hammond organ sound, especially in
End Of The Race, the Atomic Rooster
inspired Travelling Lady and
The Days Of Man. London Underground
sounds like a blend of the sixties, rock and psychedelia with a warm emotional
undertone. The music is often simply, but very tasteful structured with
pleasant interplay between organ and guitar. MALAAVIA – Danze D’Incenso (2004)
In general, this musical project from signori Lusi
and signori Scarpato is a wonderful
and very alternating prog rock album. You hear great duo-vocals tastefully
blended with flute, organ, violin and piano in
Abraham, Where Is The Land? An Arabian undertone with synthesizer
flights and saxophone in Sahara - Marrakesh,
classical orchestrations and a splendid grand finale featuring
violin and some church organ in Ombre,
sparkling classical piano play in Softmoon
and Bach’s Prelude, fiery and heavy
guitar work in Hominem Quaero and
wonderful classical and Spanish guitar and mandolin in
Locus Amoenus.
There is a lot to enjoy, especially the title track
with great keyboards, a sensitive Spanish guitar solo, beautiful piano and in
the end a synthesizer solo. Mezzalunafertile
has a compelling classical undertone, tastefully blended with sitar, accordion,
Spanish guitar and flute. Unfortunately, the composers got the idea to add
disco beats to some tracks! Just when you are carried away to prog heaven, that
weird musical idea sends you back to a harsh reality. However, if you use the
program function, this CD will deliver many wonderful prog rock moments.MALIBRAN - Strani Colori (2004)
In the early nineties, I bought the debut-LP Wood
Of Tales,
a pleasant blend of folk and prog with strong echoes from
Jethro Tull. Their next album was more
symphonic with strong hints from early Marillion
featuring sensitive guitar soli and lush keyboards. The Italian vocals gave the
music a special flavour. After this album, my attention faded away for this
band but a few years ago, I got an interesting
Malibran promo CD entitled Strani Colori
(running time 75 minutes). You can divide this compilation into
three parts. The first four songs are from their latest period. You may
conclude that Malibran has turned into a band with its own identity. Their
music is very melodic, warm and alternating, but also more polished. Then a few
covers like Bourreé (Bach/Ian
Anderson) from 2000 and Rhayader Goes To Town
(Latimer/Bardens) from 1997. Their renditions sound good, but I always
wonder who’s waiting for these covers. Cause
We’ve Ended As Lovers
(Jeff Beck) from 1997 contains fiery and powerful
guitar work, but it’s a mission impossible to copy the sound of the underrated
ex-Yardbirds’ guitarist. The final
part includes six compelling songs from 1989-1994: beautiful soli en duets on
guitar, a dynamic rhythm-section, wonderful flute and saxophone play and
tasteful keyboards. The music on these songs again has echoes from Jethro Tull
and Marillion. Malibran delivered a pleasant prog rock album, not very original
but if you like early Marillion and you are up to Italian vocals this is a CD
to check out. |
 |
MALIBRAN - Trasparenze : A New Musical Project by Guiseppe Scaravilli (2008)
This fine
prog rock band has been established in 1987. In 1990, the band released their
well-received debut album The Wood Of Tales
followed by their most acclaimed album
Le Porte Del Silenzio in 1993. Between 1993 and June 2009,
Malibran released a series of
studio-albums, compilations and live records and in 2005 the DVD 10 Anni In
Concerto 1988 – 1998. It’s already eight years ago that Malibran released their
latest studio-album Oltre L’Ignoto,
so it was time for Malibran to present a new album. Although this new album has
been presented as Malibran, it also contains the message on the front and back
cover: ‘A new musical project by Guiseppe Scaravilli’. He’s one of
the prime movers of the band who invited Malibran-members
Jerry Litrico (synth guitar, guitars) and
Alessio Scaravelli
(drums) along with special guest musicians
Giancarlo Cutuli (saxophone on 2 tracks) and
Toni Granata (violin on 3 tracks).Most of the eleven compositions on Trasparenze sound dreamy and mellow featuring warm twanging acoustic guitar, pleasant Italian vocals, cheerful flute work and in some songs solos on saxophone, acoustic guitar, violin (evoking Jean Luc Ponty in Volo Magico), jazzy inspired electric guitar in Nel Ricordo and flashy synthesizer in Pioggia Di Maggio. The two epic tracks (around 13 minutes) Trasparenze has Jethro Tull-like flute play and a Mike Oldfield-oriented atmosphere. Pensieri Fragili with powerful saxophone and heavy electric guitar riffs, contains lots of flowing shifting moods with wonderful solos on electric guitar (sensitive with howling runs) and a delicate colouring with flute and acoustic guitar. My favourite songs are Vento D’Oriente an Arabian atmosphere with great contrast between a sultry violin and a harder-edged electric guitar. Presagio has a strong build-up with exciting work on guitar and keyboards and even some prog metal. Although the balance is a bit more on the mellow side, this new Malibran-album succeeds in keeping my attention. It sounds very pleasant, especially the twanging acoustic guitars, and melodic with very strong solos on electric guitar.
MANGALA VALLIS - Lycanthrope (2005)
A few years ago I spoke to a member of Dutch prog rock formation
Plackband. They performed with
Mangala Vallis
on an Italian prog rock festival and they were very impressed by
their performance and new material. Well, listening to this new album from
Mangala Vallis, with a contribution from Van
Der Graaf Generator-saxophonist David
Jackson, I was stunned by the
huge progress this promising Italian band has made. Their debut album was a
pleasant one loaded with mellotron, but this one sounds more mature and
captivating.The unsurpassed mellotron is omnipresent, almost every song contains mellotron waves of violin, flute and choir-Mellotron. What a joy! The eight compositions sound melodic, tasteful and alternating: from dreamy en compelling to up-tempo and sumptuous featuring great soli on guitar, often Gilmourian inspired, and keyboards.
The vocals from Bernardo Lanzetti,
who sang in PFM and Acqua Fragile in the mid-seventies, are both
very distinctive and a bit theatrical with echoes from early
Peter Gabriel and
Fish. The highlight on this CD is the long track
The Boy That Howls At The Moon. It
starts with the howling of wolves, followed by twanging guitars, dreamy vocals
and mellotron flutes. The rhythm turns into slow delivering floods of organ and
delicate acoustic rhythm guitar, culminating in a sensitive electric guitar
solo, supported by mellotron violins. Next, a splendid piece of music with lots
of bombastic prog rock, very compelling and moving with heavy mellotron choirs,
a Hammond organ solo and finally an up-tempo rhythm with flashy synthesizer
runs. Goose bumps! The final part contains a wonderful build-up guitar solo
with fiery runs and fluent drums. This album is highly recommended to all fans
of Genesis, IQ,
Pendragon and
Pink Floyd.MARYGOLD - The Guns Of Marygold (2006)
Marygold
is rooted in 1994 and most members are from the
Marillion (Fish-era) cover band
Wildfire.
Marygold started to play covers from Marillion and
Genesis, but gradually composed more material of their own that
resulted in the debut album The Guns Of Marygold.
The vocals are in English and the running time like that of the
‘good old LP’s’: about forty minutes!1. Hara-kiri Show (7.25): the intro contains a spacey sound from keyboards and a Roland guitar-synthesizer. It evokes Steve Hackett’s ominous sounding song Land Of A Thousand Autumns. A compelling rhythm follows with lots of breaks and shifting moods sounding very dynamic and featuring dramatic vocals, fiery guitar and fluent synthesizer flights.
2. Crows On The Tree (6.32): this is a mellow track with melancholic vocals and fragile guitar work, followed by beautiful guitar play with the volume pedal and sensitive piano. The final part delivers a mid-tempo with howling electric guitar, very moving!
3. Marygold (7.21): this song starts with twanging guitars in the vein of early Genesis in a dreamy atmosphere with warm vocals and a slow synthesizer solo. Halfway a break, then a mid-tempo pace and we can enjoy delicate work on organ, inspired vocals and slightly distorted guitar.
4. Sunflowers (5.21): this composition contains lots of variation and flowing changing atmospheres: from dreamy with sparkling piano to a fluent rhythm with flashy synthesizer work, fiery guitar and passionate vocals.
5. Tania Stands... (2.56): a short song with wonderful interplay between the acoustic guitar, halfway there is some delicate flute, simply beautiful!
6. The Wizard (9.46): after strong drum beats and fiery guitar the atmosphere turns into dreamy with a slow rhythm delivering soaring keyboards, sensitive electric guitar with volume pedal play and warm vocals. Gradually the pace becomes faster and the sound lush and bombastic, culminating in exciting interplay between guitar and keyboards along passionate vocals. This is Marygold at their best! Suddenly the music stops and a bell rings (my border collie Lola looked confused at me or she had to bark ..!), then the music returns with a mellow atmosphere featuring wonderful symphonic prog with lush keyboards and howling electric guitar. I’m on cloud 9! Marygold sounds very warm and beautiful and is recommended to fans of pleasant and melodic prog like Genesis, Marillion, Pendragon, Camel and IQ but a bit more subdued. I would say that Marygold is, to quote Fish: “...for the romantics in the audience.”
(LA) MASCHERA DI CERA - LuxAde (2006)
In 2002, I
got the eponymous debut album from this promising five-piece band as a promo on
a CD-R. I was delighted about the seventies inspired sound
(Banco,
Museo Rosenbach, Metamorfosi)
loaded with vintage keyboards like the Moog-synthesizer, Hammond-organ and
mellotron. Unfortunately, the compositions turned out to be a bit too
fragmented. This band had to mature. After two studio and one live album, here
is the new album by La Maschera Di Cera
and to start with my conclusion: this is a masterpiece! From the very notes La
Maschera Di Cera take you away with dynamic, alternating and often very compelling
compositions, drenched into the wonderful seventies Italian prog rock tradition
with passionate Italian vocals, fluent and pleasant shifting moods, great
build-ups and wonderful ‘grand finales’, often featuring mellotron choirs and
mellotron violins eruptions and sensational synthesizer flights. Goose bumps!
The musical variation is great and ranges from twelve-string acoustic guitar
and flute traverse to saxophone and a huge array of vintage keyboards:
mellotron, Hammond- and Crumar-organ, harpsichord, Fender Rhodes piano and
several synthesizers. Another impressive Italian prog rock CD, highly
recommended!(LA) MASCHERA DI CERA - In Concerto (2004)
I remember
that about two years ago ‘Tattoo Ko’, perhaps the number one prog head in The
Netherlands said to me that he had seen one of the most memorable concerts in
his life in the splendid Belgian prog rock temple Spirit of '66 in Verviers. He
talked about Italian band La Maschera Di Cera,
a band that makes wonderful music in a very emotional atmosphere and
with three mellotrons on stage! I was very curious to hear their live-album
when I got it as a promo. Well, the short first song contains a kind of
Watcher Of The Skies, part two. What a
mind-blowing mellotron sound! The other six compositions (between 8 and 20
minutes) are a tribute to the famous prog rock dinosaurs of the seventies with
lots of shifting moods, many accelerations, great soli on guitar, flute and
keyboards and, last but not least, very moving bombastic eruptions featuring
Moog Taurus bass pedals, majestic mellotron waves and spectacular MiniMoog
runs. The pleasant vocals remind me of Men Of Lake.
At some moments, the music sounds a bit too cacophonic or
avant-garde to me, but in general this band plays in the wonderful 24-carat
symphonic rock tradition like early King Crimson,
Yes and Genesis
delivering lots of analogue
keyboards. This is music that grabs you or not, but it’s a very emotional
experience!MASS MEDIA – Criptoidea (2007)
Mass Media
already made music in the seventies, but they
reunited because the label Electromantic invited the band to make a new album.
The current line-up features three original members.
Criptoidea contains thirteen: four with Italian vocals, nine are
instrumental. The music often delivers swinging and fluent jazz-rock with
echoes from Mahavishnu Orchestra and
Brand X with lots of guitar and
Fender Rhodes electric piano along Hammond-organ and synthesizers and a very
adventurous, often propulsive rhythm-section. I’m impressed by the musicians’
skills and interplay. They are very experienced and know each other very well
in musical terms. I’m delighted about the parts in which the guitar is
supported by strings, the propulsive rhythm-section and the duels between
guitar and keyboards. What an energy! The final composition
Suite Del Ringraziamento is a tribute to
some classical composers and keyboardists Rick
Wakeman and Keith Emerson. It’s
recorded live in the studio and contains short renditions of compositions by
Bach (Badinerie and Preludio), Mozart
(Rondo A La Turca), Bernstein
(America), Brubeck
(Blue Rondo A La Turk), Copland
(Hoedown) and Wakeman
(Catherine Howard).
We can enjoy sparkling piano and fiery guitar and great interplay between
guitar and keyboards. Remarkably is the fiery electric guitar in
Hoedown instead of the fat synthesizer
sound. I’m sure this album will please many jazz rock fans.MAURY E I PRONOMI - (Ec) Citazioni Neoclassische (2004)
This debut
album sounds as a tribute to the glorious days of the seventies Italian prog
rock bands like Banco,
Biglietto Per L’Inferno,
Metamorfosi,
Le Orme and Il Balletto Di Bronzo.
The first composition Il Racconte Degli Dei
(about 25 minutes) is divided into seven parts. Part I
is build around a compelling climate featuring powerful vocals with a melancholic
undertone, beautiful piano play, propulsive guitar riffs and a wonderful string
sound. I love the tension and dynamics and the final, very sensitive guitar
solo. Part II has a fluent rhythm featuring fiery electric guitar work and slow
synthesizer runs and very inspired vocals. Part III sounds atmospheric, but
halfway we can enjoy a good build-up and strong guitar solo. Part IV has a bit
ominous climate like King Crimson on
Red that flows into Part V that
delivers a heavy guitar solo with biting runs. Part VI sounds bombastic with a
howling guitar and mellotron choirs!
The final Part VII contains powerful Hammond-organ. Although some parts have a
similar atmosphere or are too long-winded, in general this composition sounds
warm and pleasant. The second track Lei E Venezia
(12.02) has strong classical overtones featuring piano, violin and
orchestral keyboards. Gradually the atmosphere becomes more bombastic with
strong Italian vocals and sensitive electric guitar. Halfway is an eruption of
propulsive guitar riffs, synthesizer flights and a great build-up guitar solo
with lush strings and powerful vocals. The third song
Voglio Cambiare
(5.49) is a kind of ‘prog ‘n’ roll: a heavy
up-tempo rhythm, a dynamic rhythm-section, strong organ waves and good vocals.
Oceano (almost 10 minutes) sounds like
‘bluesy symphonic rock’: a slow rhythm, soaring strings, a lush organ and fat
guitar sound and melancholic vocals. Then we can enjoy a powerful saxophone
solo in the vein of Pink Floyd, a
sensitive guitar and a surprising break with tin-whistle, organ, howling guitar
and flute. The final song L'Assenza
is very alternating, but showcases also that this band has to mature in
composing and writing because sometimes the music has a tendency to become
long-winded. The second part is great, ending up with a wonderful and moving
guitar solo. Although Maury E I Pronomi
has
to work on the compositions, this is a very warm and pleasant tribute to the
legendary Italian prog rock bands from the seventies.MOONGARDEN - Round Midnight (2003)
Listening to Moongarden
’s music is a special
experience, a kind of ‘Pandora’s box of musical surprises’. It’s hard to put
this band in a category, perhaps the musicians themselves hate every attempt of
prog rock reviewers to do so! My first reaction on this album was ‘Is this prog
rock?’, but finally I concluded that is great to notice that, after more than
35 years, new bands still succeed to sound progressive. The music alternates
from progressive pop, including warm piano and acoustic rhythm-guitar and
melancholic vocals with obvious hints from Radiohead
and Coldplay, to melodic progressive
rock featuring sumptuous keyboards, many fine mellotron samples and some
wonderful sensitive electric guitar soli. I’m stunned by the beautiful, varied
and elaborated compositions, loaded with emotion. In the end the vocalist sings
I’m so damned alone..., I think this
phrase epitomizes the feelings of many young people who live in our
ultra-modern and technically based society where verbal communication is on the
level of pre-historical times.MOONGARDEN - Songs From The Lighthouse (2008)
This album, with a great fold out cover, is Moongarden
’s fifth effort and it sounds great:1. My Darkside (7.26): after a spacey intro, Moongarden delivers a fluent rhythm with delicate guitar work, soaring keyboards and emotional English vocals. This is followed by several shifting moods, from dreamy with violins and melancholic vocals to powerful accelerations with Hammond- organ, propulsive drums, howling guitar and a splendid final part featuring the omnipresent mellotron. I love it!
2. It's You (7.04): starts dreamy with mellow piano and vocals and then turns into wonderful vocals, mellotron and intense guitars, sounding like a symphonic Radiohead.
3. Solaris (13.00): this is an alternating composition with the final part as a highlight with an excellent build-up: a Floydian inspired guitar solo supported by a heavy Hammond and then the majestic mellotron. This is prog heaven!
4. Emotionaut (3.55): in this short piece we can enjoy propulsive and bombastic parts with heavy mellotron work.
5. That Child (5.52): the first part contains sensitive piano and warm vocals then the band succeeds to translate the emotional subject (parents neglecting their child) into music in a very impressive way. Lots of mellotron violins but also bombastic with fat and protrusive guitar, mellotron choirs and cynical vocals (using over-dubs). Goose bumps!
6. Flesh (2.49): an instrumental track with cello and grand piano, supported by mellow mellotron waves.
7. Dreamlord (11.30): this piece begins with a Fender piano sound and mellotron violins and then turning from dreamy into bombastic with fiery guitar and lush mellotron choirs.
8. Southampton Railroad (4.11): in this short song, we can enjoy acoustic rhythm guitar and the sound of tablas (Indian percussion). It sounds pleasant and a bit exotic.
9. Sonya In Search Of The Moon (5.47): a very alternating composition with first a slow rhythm featuring flashy synthesizer flights, then bombastic with sensitive guitar, bass pedals and mellotron choirs, all very tastefully arranged.
10. The Lighthouse Song (9.32): the title track is also very tastefully arranged: first dreamy with acoustic rhythm guitar, piano and warm vocals and compelling like the Radiohead atmosphere in the second track and finally howling guitar, strong vocals and majestic mellotron choirs. What a captivating new prog rock!
MOONGARDEN – A Vulgar Display Of Prog (2009)
Moongarden
has turned into a very interesting prog rock band since their debut album
Moonsadness in 1994. However,
this new album is only their sixth studio-album in fifteen years. On their
previous effort Songs From The Lighthouse
(2008), we enjoyed a varied
prog rock sound embellished with instruments as the grand piano, cello and
tablas. The album contained strong and very distinctive vocals and majestic
mellotron layers, so I was very curious how Moongarden’s new album would sound
a year later.On A Vulgar Display Of Prog, Moongarden invites us again for an interesting and captivating musical journey. These guys play progressive rock in the true sense of the word! Sometimes we hear bombastic seventies symphonic rock in the vein of Genesis 1976-77 with lush mellotron and a powerful guitar sound, but also mellow atmospheres with dreamy vocals and ambient keyboards like in Demetrio And Magdalen. On other tracks we can enjoy an eighties Queen-like synthesizer sound in MDMA or a heavy guitar wall with rap-like vocals in Compression. What a stunning variety!
I’m delighted about the interplay between the guitars and keyboards. In Aesthetic Surgery, you can enjoy a howling guitar with mellotron choirs. Wordz & Badge delivers an exciting duel between aggressive guitar riffs and again mellotron choirs just like in Demetrio And Magdalen. Sometimes Moongarden sounds mellow and warm with strong emotions like in Aesthetic Surgery with tender piano and melancholic vocals (‘I am an artist, not God’). Those emotional and expressive vocals form an important part of Moongarden’s distinctive sound. Simone Baldini Tosi has a rather unique voice in the current prog rock with a lot of emotion and expression! This kind of music is not always my cup of tea, but I’m impressed anyway. Fifteen years after their debut album Moongarden are still alive and progging!
NARROW PASS - A Room Of Fairy Queen’s (2006)
The man behind this Italian project is multi-instrumentalist
Mauro Montobbio. Musicians like singer
Alessandro Corvaglia from
La Maschera Di Cera en
Edmondo Romano van
Eris Pluvia supported him. 1. Earth - Je Cherche La Vie (5.19): this piece starts with a wonderful spacey keyboard intro and the Roland guitar synthesizer followed by a fluent rhythm featuring Spanish guitar runs and quick synthesizer flights with strong echoes from Tony Banks’s ARP Pro Solist sound.
2. A Room Of Fairy Queen's (5.32): this track has a beautiful medieval atmosphere with pleasant female Annie Haslam-like vocals, flute and classical guitar.
3. Lord Of The Headline (7.37): now Narrow Pass turns into a propulsive mid-tempo with raw male vocals, flashy synthesizer runs and harder-edged guitar work. We can enjoy fiery electric guitar soli and MiniMoog-like synthesizer flights. The music sounds dynamic and tasteful.
4. The Lake (6.50): this instrumental piece starts with flute and acoustic rhythm guitar, then the unique and surprising sound of a bagpipe! After a strong and compelling guitar solo, the atmosphere turns into mellow with acoustic guitar and soaring keyboards.
5. Coming Off My Shadow (1.45): this is a short instrumental with a catchy rhythm and a spectacular duel between guitar and keyboards in the vein of Steve Hackett in ...In That Quiet Earth.
6. Desert (7.46): this is another instrumental, very alternating with Hackett-like guitar playing and lots of strong soli on guitar and keyboards. Great!
7. Wake Up (10.15): the longest composition sounds very dynamic: from dreamy with twanging guitars to bombastic with fiery electric guitar. It often evokes the early and pleasant neo-prog of IQ. The omnipresent saxophone alongside the Hackett-like guitar and the lush bass pedal sound are remarkable on this track.
8. Into The Light (6.04): after a dreamy intro, the music slowly turns into compelling symphonic prog, culminating in a ‘grand finale’ delivering bass pedals, lush keyboards and howling electric guitar. This is progheaven!
A Room Of Fairy Queen’s is a very pleasant and melodic album that will delight the fans of Genesis 1970-1977 era, Steve Hackett and neo-prog like IQ and Pendragon.
NARROW PASS – In This World And Beyond (2009)
In 2006, Narrow Pass
released their debut album entitled
A Room Of Fairy Queen’s a very pleasant and melodic album.
Well, on the new album Narrow Pass still creates 76-77
Genesis
inspired symphonic rock. Most of the seven tracks deliver flowing shifting
moods featuring a tasteful colouring. The music is very alternating: from
acoustic and classical guitar to flute, saxophone and violin, but also moving
electric guitar work, varied keyboards and a wonderful female singer along some
male vocals. A very special and beautiful song is the folky
Silver Lady with Gaelic vocals,
instruments like violin, Irish bodhran, tin-whistle and the use of two Irish
speakers. I’m sure this wonderful new album will please many symphomaniacs.
Fortunately, Narrow Pass didn’t remain another new and promising one-shot
Italian progrock band!NODO GORDIANO – Flektogon (2009)
The Nodo Gordiano project begins starts
early 1994 after the meeting of Andrea De Luca
(bass, vocals), Alessandro Papotto
(wind instruments, vocals) and Tony Zito
(drums). The first line up completed when Roberto Proietto (guitars)
and Fabio D’Andrea (keyboards) joined. The band made its live debut in late
1994. During 1995 and 1996, they principally play
Genesis- and King Crimson-covers
and radio-friendly rock, alongside with other private networks, promotion gigs
in important live exhibitions in Rome. In 1997, after the keyboardist had left,
the quartet created and recorded music for promotional purposes that appeared
on the first studio album, produced by the Lizard-label. Furthermore, they
played gigs with John Wetton playing
King Crimson-covers. In 1998, the band became a sextet with new members
Giordano Rossini (vocals, flute) and
Roberto Gavazzi (keyboards, piano) and
collaborated with Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso.
The band appeared on the national TV networks, played live
extensively and performed in several Alternative Rock Festivals. In 1990, a few
months after the official first release, Alessandro Papotto and Tony Zito left
the band to engage themselves in other musical activities, while Andrea De Luca
continued in Nodo Gordiano and collected new ideas for the next incarnation of
then band. In 2002, Andrea met drummer Carlo
Fattorini (Der Blaue Reiter,
Magog) and guitarist
Fabrizio Santoro (
Magog, Oak). From now
on, the band performed as a trio. Other collaborations during the first ten
years are with, amongst others, Antonello De Zelis,
Max G.B. Tommasi and
Alberto D'Annibale. In 2004, Fabrizio
left the band choosing to go further as bassist. The band completed the new
line-up with the arrival of keyboardist Gianluca
Cottarelli. In 2005, this trio released the album
Alea
on the Mellow Records-label. It’s a collection of
improvisations embellished by the precious graphic work of the artist Carla
Nico. In 2007, Andrea and Carlo they recorded the latest album
Flektogon with the contributions of
saxophonist and flutist Franco Terralavoro
and soprano Silvia Scozzi.
This third studio album has been released in 2009 by the AMS/Vynil
Magic-label. In April 2009, guitarist Valerio Rasi
(ex-Arvalia) joined the
band and completed the line-up again.Well, the name of King Crimson frequently appears in the above-mentioned biography, so it’s logical that the spirit of this classic prog rock legend reigns over this album. In almost every track, I notice strong hints of King Crimson. Heavy and hypnotizing atmospheres with a very propulsive rhythm-section close to John Wetton and Bill Bruford and razor-sharp or repetitive guitar work in the best tradition of Robert Fripp’s. Also Jamie Muir-inspired percussion experiments in Ozymandias Part I + II and screamy saxophone play. However, Nodo Gordiano turns out to be more than a King Crimson-clone. Just listen to the high-pitched female opera-like vocals in Theatro Di Memoria. The intro with the choir strongly evokes PFM’s The World Became The World. Listen to the ethnic Indian intro, the electronic sound collage and the dreamy flute in the magnum opus Avventure Di Mastarna. To me this long epic composition sounds like a jam session of 30 minutes, from mellow to ‘organized chaos’, in the best tradition of King Crimson.
After several listening sessions, I conclude that Nodo Gordiano has very interesting compositional skills, but I’m sure this kind of prog rock will not be everybody’s cup of tea. However, I recommend the King Crimson fans and those prog heads that are searching for adventurous prog rock to check out the ‘multimedia section’ of Nodo Gordiano’s excellent website.
NOTABENE - NotaBene (2005)
Incredible, but Nota Bene
is another fine new Italian prog rock band. What a prolific scene! 1. Terra Madre (6:50): this track starts with majestic violin work and warm Italian vocals moving to a mid-tempo featuring a pleasant symphonic rock atmosphere with delicate synthesizer flights, sensitive electric guitar and wonderful violin. The music often reminds me of fellow Italian band Abiogenesi.
2. Danza Nel Fuoco (7:00): begins mellow with the interplay of a soft trumpet and piano, followed by a dynamic and bombastic atmosphere delivering powerful organ waves, heavy electric guitar riffs, fiery trumpet and spectacular synthesizer runs. Very entertaining!
3. Effimero Regno Di Plastica (9:13): again dynamic and bombastic music featuring a catchy rhythm. There is great interplay and good soli on organ, violin and guitar. The Italians vocals sound strong with a pleasant, often emotional undertone. Halfway the atmosphere’s changing from heavy progressive into dreamy with the sound of a string ensemble, classical orchestrations, choir and violin. The final part is more dynamic and contains wonderful, very sensitive electric guitar, fat synthesizer flights and moving work on the violin.
4. Maestrale (7:48): this track starts mellow with fine piano, flute and violin. Then many changing atmospheres follow: from dreamy to propulsive featuring bombastic organ and synthesizers with strong Italian vocals.
5. Rosa Bianca (Suite) (13:55): this is Notabene’s ‘magnum opus’. It contains lots of shifting moods and the focus is on swinging Fender Rhodes piano sound and powerful trumpet play. The interplay between the musicians is great, the rhythm-section sounds dynamic. In the end we hear a beautiful, strongly build-up electric guitar solo.
6. Altopiano (7:52): after a few minutes of silence this ‘hidden track’ starts delivering great variety: from sparkling piano and fiery electric guitar to a piece with almost Brazilian carnival music! If you are up to the wonderful Italian prog rock scene, I’m sure Notabene will please you!
NOTABENE - Sei Lacrime D'Ambra (2007)
After
their wonderful and acclaimed eponymous debut album, this is the new album by
symphonic prog band Notabene. It
contains six compositions, three having a running time between ten and twenty
minutes. This is no problem because Notabene succeeds in keeping my attention
during the entire album: lots of fine shifting moods and wonderful, often
howling guitar soli, some flashy synthesizer soli on
La Revolution Bourgeoise Parte II and warm Italian vocals with that
typical dramatic Mediterenean undertone. I’m also pleased by the delicate
musical surprises like a jazzy piano part in
Le Mistificazioni Dell'Ombra, mandolin and accordion in the title
track and a break with percussion in Il
Treno Di Obuda.
Notabene’s most pleasant element is the interplay between
guitar and keyboards reminding me of another fine Italian band named
Nuova Era (
La Revolution Bourgeoise (parte I).
In my opinion, Notabene has matured after their promising first
album. I’m sure that many prog heads and symphomaniacs will be delighted about
this new album.OBSCURA – Le Citta Invisibli (2007)
Obscura
is a new sextet and their music sounds as a
pleasant and alternating blend of several styles in which the contrast between
the sparkling grand piano and the heavy Black Sabbath-like
guitar riffs are remarkable! Those riffs give the music an
extra dimension like in the varied composition
Limbo Cosmico Part I with mellow flute, heavy guitar and a
wonderful, very sensitive guitar solo, supported by huge mellotron waves. Goose
bumps!) La Citta Del Sole contains
sparkling piano and heavy guitar riffs, acceleration with organ and guitar and
finally Fender Rhodes piano and again heavy riffs. In
Limbo Cosmico Part II
we hear beautiful interplay between piano and
flute, a moving guitar solo with lush organ and a great final part with fine
vocals, flute and mellotron choirs. The excellent final composition
Guernica is very alternating with Fender
Rhodes piano/flute with fluent synthesizer flights, organ and protrusive drums
and a compelling part with wah-wah guitar, first supported by organ and then by
majestic mellotron choirs. Goose bumps again! This album also delivers two
short pieces: Bersebea featuring
grand piano arpeggio’s and mellow flute and Ipazia
with a flute/acoustic guitar duet, wonderful. Although they still have to mature in composing and recording, to me this debut album by Obscura sounds as a very pleasant and original blend of symphonic tasteful vintage keyboards, classical rock and hard rock. I sincerely hope that Obscura will not become another one-shot band.
Singer Davide Cagnata told me the following about the current situation: “The band is not doing well. Massimo Tabai, our main composer and musical leader, moved to Reggio Emilia. He’s working hard mainly as an audio engineer for big shots and at the moment, it’s difficult for him to record new material. Matteo Cavallari (guitar) moved to Bergamo and works as a manager for a fashion firm. He only comes home once a month. Matteo Pinfari (bass) works for a computer firm and is always around the globe: China, Australia, rarely at home. I think everybody lost trace of Barbara Mazzola (flute). I’m afraid she even quit playing. If this album had been released in 1997, it probably would have been another story, but after ten years, it’s hard to reassemble the group. I have two new projects. The first is a collective named Kastlar consisting of about twenty musicians with which I worked in the past. Amongst others: Gianluca Tagliavini (keyboard player with PFM), David Cremoni and Mirko Tagliasacchi from Moongarden. The idea is to put together an album made of different flavours and musicians and to forge them into a unique blend. Well, at least, that’s what I would like to do. I know it’s difficult, it will take time, but it's just up to me to do it.
The other project is Dark Ages, a traditional five-piece prog metal band. We play on a regular base since ten years. I'm writing a concept double album about ancient Assyria.
PANDORA – Dramma Di Un Poeta Ubriaco (2008)
This four-piece established in 2006. After a series of concerts in early 2008,
Pandora’s got a record deal with the
known Italian label Btf. and released their debut album
Dramma Di Un Poeta Ubriaco end 2008.On this first album, Pandora is scouting the borders between classic Italian prog, symphonic rock, heavy prog and prog metal in a very exciting way. We can enjoy many bombastic atmospheres, loaded with heavy guitar play, sensational keyboard work (three members play keyboards!) and thunderous drumming in Il Giudizio Universale. In the instrumental song March To Hell, we hear exciting breaks, great wah-wah guitar and passionate Italian vocals but also swirling Hammond organ solos and a fat MiniMoog sound. The Dream Theater elements are evident. The title track contains a beautiful grand piano intro and a splendid grand finale with compelling keyboard work and a very moving guitar solo. Goose bumps!
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PERIFERIA DEL MONDO – Periferia Del Mondo (2006)
Periferia Del Mondo
decided to give their third album the name of the band, so it’s called
Perif3ria Del Mondo.
The ten compositions sound alternating and contain a wide range of
instruments. In my opinion, the clarinet and the saxophone have an important
role on this album. They colour the music in a very pleasant way. You can enjoy
many interesting musical ideas like a moving clarinet solo and sensitive
electric guitar in the swinging title track. In the mid-tempo song
Ocean you can hear fiery guitar and an
organ solo and in the Mid-Eastern sounding Suite
Mediterranea
a spectacular synthesizer solo and many soli, including a
clarinet inspired by Ravel’s Bolero. In Charoscuro,
we can enjoy a wonderful acoustic guitar with mellotron violins. In
Alghe, there is suddenly pure
rock-and-roll guitar with organ and powerful vocals. It is all possible on this
new and pretty compelling album from Periferia Del Mondo!PROTEO – Under A Red Polar Light (2009)
The Italian four-piece formation Proteo
started to play rock- and-roll in 1996, but
soon they changed their musical direction towards progressive rock. Gradually
the band shaped their sound just working together on the songs. Nowadays we can
describe their music as catchy, but with distinctive arrangements. The main
feature is that every instrument is equally important to the others. This way
they get a well-balanced and compact sound, they consider as prog pop, a bridge
between the easiness of pop and the complexity of melodic prog. Proteo released three demos to date: A Glare From Depth (1998), Of Stars And Mind (2001), both recorded in their rehearsal room, and their first studio release named Proteo in 2003. Meanwhile, the band signed with progressive Italian label MaRaCash Records and in September 2009 their debut album Under A Red Polar Light appeared worldwide.
The eight, often swinging compositions on their debut, sound as a pleasant and melodic blend of pop and progressive rock with lots of powerful guitar solos and subtle arrangements. In the song Eternity, we can enjoy a break with catchy interplay between percussion, handclapping and guitar. Australia features a delicate use of electric piano and saxophone and Tales From The Ocean has a slow rhythm with protrusive guitar playing, floating keyboards and strong interplay between rhythm and lead guitar, culminating in a pretty raw solo in Robota. You can hear that these guys are playing together for a long time. Proteo sounds like a tight unit with many interesting musical ideas. If you are up to the more commercial sound of Rush, Roxy Music and Supertramp, or if you like prog pop with echoes from The Police and 10CC, than this is a band to discover.
RANDONE - Hybla Act 1 (2005)
I have
heard Randone’s fine debut album, but this one is a better and more original
effort. I'm delighted about the variety in the compositions and the use of many
different Italian singers. Especially the opera-like vocalist sound great, but
that is also a matter of taste. Further more we hear the wonderful vintage
keyboard sound of the Moog and the mellotron, splendid and alternating guitar
play, acoustic, Spanish, as well as metal, wah-wah and sensitive and howling
soli. The 25 tracks are varied and dynamic, but sometimes a bit too fragmented
or with too many ideas after each other. In general, this album is an
impressive progressive piece. The subtitle
A Barock Opera
fits the music perfectly. This album will not be everybody's
cup of tea, but this prog taste like adventure and progress! Wonderful!RANESTRANE - Nosferatu Il Vampiro (2009)
Four-piece
RanestRane was founded in the second half of the nineties. The band started to
play live with the images of Werner Herzog’s movie Nosferatu (1979) in the
background, a so-called ‘cine concert’ as the band explains on their website.
This was the starting point of their ambitious double album debut entitled
Nosferatu: Il Vampiro. Instead of
creating rock opera’s at the scale of Tommy
by The Who or
The Wall by Pink Floyd,
RanestRane decided to build their music on this Werner
Herzog-movie, because of the cost. Therefore, they produced this double CD themselves.
Most of the 28 compositions sound dreamy, mellow and ambient blended with
sounds. The band used voices based upon the original lyrics, soaring keyboards,
wonderful grand piano, pleasant Italian vocals and atmospheric guitar work. While
listening, the albums Love Over Gold by
Dire Straits and
Brave by Marillion
came to my mind, but RanestRane delivers a more
progressive rock touch to the music. The musicians present compelling shifting
moods, subtle accelerations and captivating build-ups. In
Via De Wismar
is a mid-tempo piece with bombastic keyboards,
powerful guitar and in the end sensitive work on guitar and piano.
L’Assalto is raw, has an aggressive
sound with hypnotizing distorted electric guitar runs.
Saranno Giorni Tristi
has a slow rhythm with Hammond-organ in the vein of
Ken Hensley. Ritorna
has beautiful moving guitar playing similar to
Steve Hackett.
Gli Ultimi Momenti Di Wismar delivers a warm
accordion and piano sound. L’Ultimo Incontro
has bombastic interplay between keyboards and drums. Te awesome
final composition Via Da Wismar comes
close to neo-prog) with first wonderful grand piano and Italian vocals. Then
the music gradually turns into bombastic with protrusive drumbeats, sumptuous
keyboard layers and delicate synthesizer flights. What a splendid grand finale!
Let yourself carry away by this wonderful ‘soundtrack-prog rock’. A big hand
for RanestRane’s daring debut!The RedZen – The RedZen (promo mini-CD)
On their MySpace website I read: ‘The RedZen
is a project born in 2008 in Italy under the sign of
Roberto Leoni, Ettore Salati,
Marco Schembri and
Angelo Racz and devoted to instrumental
progressive fusion music. They finally met after having shared different
projects which led them to play in world-distributed prog releases. They
performed live in many European countries, USA, South-America and Japan. After
a couple of jam-sessions as a trio, keyboard virtuoso Angelo completed the
line-up. Some months later, Marco decided to leave the project and Nicola Della
Pepa brought his bass lines into the sound.’ Here’s an introduction of the band
members:Ettore Salati (guitars and bass pedals) collaborated with musicians from the international progressive rock scene, primary with Alex Carpani. He has worked for many years with The Watch, one of the most important prog rock acts nowadays. With them, he recorded two studio albums, a live album, a live DVD and he performed all over the world. He graduated in modern guitar, contributed to guitar methods and started his career as a session musician. He has worked with highlighted Italian artists and great musicians like David Jackson (Van Der Graaf Generator, Peter Gabriel), Karl Potter (amongst others Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus) and Aldo Tagliapietra (Le Orme and solo).
Angelo Racz (keyboards and synthesizers) graduated in piano at the Trento conservatory, attended Berklee Music College of Boston’s jazz piano courses at Umbria Jazz and began with a professional career. He’s a worldwide keyboard demonstrator for Roland and Edirol, teaches piano, musical theory, solfeggio, ear training and so on at Civica Scuola di Musica. Beyond The RedZen, he lends his fingers for hard-proggers Atlantis 1001, the power-fusion Jaguaro Band, the Italian Beatles tribute band BandOnTheRoof, the New Sunrise Gospel Choir and others.
Roberto Leoni (drums and percussion) collaborated with many musicians in several genres, from cover bands to single artists and as a session player with Ricky Gianco among them. He has been a founder member of the world-renowned prog band The Watch, with whom he recorded three studio albums, a live album and a live DVD. He has performed all over the world, appearing at the most important prog festivals. Beyond The RedZen he lends his drumming styles for the rock Serena Project Band. Being very technical talented and eclectic, he has been influenced by plenty of drumming styles.
Nicola Della Pepa (bass and guitars) started as a self-taught rock musician, following the steps of artists like Pink Floyd and Rush. Then he studied double-bass at the Novara conservatory and nowadays he’s a high demanded bass player in Northern Italy. Beyond The RedZen, he plays for many showbands and collaborated with D-Noir and Jann, for whom he recorded his second album.
After I had contacted The RedZen and pointed them at my Italian prog rock special on the Background Magazine website, the band sent me a promo package, including a mini-CD (running time 18.25) containing three instrumental tracks. The first one is Alexa In The Cage that starts bombastic featuring an exciting MiniMoog-sound, then a catchy beat with fluent synthesizer flights and powerful electric guitar, fuelled by a propulsive rhythm-section. The interplay is awesome in a captivating jazz-rock atmosphere. A raw and fiery guitar solo is backed by a thunderous rhythm-section, followed by a dreamy part with soaring keyboards and fragile guitar runs. In the end, we can enjoy a swinging rhythm with a short bass solo and delicate piano work, culminating into a swirling final part featuring biting guitar, sparkling piano and again a thunderous rhythm-section. This is a very impressive start, gentlemen! Second track is Into The Void. After tender piano and soft fretless bass runs, the music is built around flowing, very moving guitar work evoking Steve Hackett, blended with soaring keyboards and some acoustic guitar runs and synthesizer flights. Then the music slowly fades away. Simply beautiful! The final composition Hot Wine starts with a funky bass, followed by tasteful keyboards and propulsive drumming and a fiery guitar solo in a swinging rhythm. Then the music turns into a slow rhythm with a lush Hammond-organ sound, sensitive electric guitar and a powerful rhythm-section. In the second part we can enjoy lots of shifting moods delivering amazing interplay, an exciting duel between electric guitar and synthesizer, heavy guitar work and in the end a swinging rhythm with piano, powerful bass and a short synthesizer solo.
I’m impressed by the instrumental progressive fusion of The RedZen. They have told me that the band is working on a full album. I’m eagerly looking forward to it!
(CRISTIANO) ROVERSI - The Park (2003)
Looking at his MySpace website, I noticed that
Cristiano Roversi
is a very prolific musician, who has contributed too many musical
projects alongside his work on keyboards for
Moongarden and Submarine Silence.
Because of the obvious Genesis
hints in both bands, producer Franco Zaffanella asked Cristiano to create the
music for his movie Un Anno In Torbiera
with a sound between Tony Banks and
Anthony Phillips. Well, listening to
The Park I’m flooded by nature images
when I close my eyes. The sound is very mellow with layers of mellotron
violins, choirs and flutes, often in combination with electric piano and some
synthesizer flights. Some tracks contain more variety like
Stolen Title
build around the Chapman-stick and twanging guitars. The final composition
Tripping has warm vocals by
Simone Rosetti, known as the singer of
The Watch. If you
like mellow electronic inspired music, this is a fine one to dream away by.(IL) RUSCELLO – Paesaggio Solare (2009)
The story of this trio started in the late nineties when
Luca Harb
(guitars, synthesizers and piano) and
Giampaolo Cavallo (electric bass and
orchestrations) founded the formation Unyou.
Between 1999 and 2004, this band gigged extensively in and around Milan and
released two demos and an EP that were highly praised and critically acclaimed
by the national musical press. They later moved to London, initially founding
the band Zen State (active in 2005
and 2006) and later Unyou Productions, a music production and sound design
company. Giampaolo’s brother Silvio
played, since his early youth, guitar and drums in several local bands. He
developed a deep interest and passion for Italian progressive rock and
collected a considerable number of albums released in the golden years between
1970 and 1977. In January 2008, these three musicians gathered in the Room 16
Studios in London, listening to the all-time classics from Silvio’s collection.
That inspired them to write and record Il
Cielo In Un Ruscello that turned out to be
Il Ruscello's very first song. It aroused the interest of Matthias
Scheller, head of the AMS-Vinyl Magic record label and a ‘progressive rock
connoisseur extraordinaire’. In the autumn of 2008, Silvio moved to London and
the band rapidly wrote and recorded Orizzonti
and Paesaggio Solare. The latter
became the title track of Il Ruscello's debut album. Further more they wrote
the suite Le Grande Città, split in
two separate songs named La Notte Di Una Città
and Il Risveglio Di Una Città
and the instrumental La Quiete. These
tracks became Il Ruscello’s first album, evocatively titled
Paesaggio Solare, which means ‘solar
landscape’. The album was released in September 2009 by the Italian progrock
label AMS-Vinyl Magic Records. Il Ruscello’s debut album sounds very melodic and harmonic. The interplay between the guitars, the very varied and subtle colouring keyboards and the rhythm-section is wonderful and creates many pleasant atmospheres. You can enjoy swinging and mid-tempo rhythms with powerful electric guitar runs and fluent synthesizer flights, but also dreamy sounds with tender grand piano, twanging acoustic guitar and the distinctive sound of the string-ensemble like in Il Cielo In Un Ruscello and Il Risveglio Di Una Citta. Bands that come to mind often are Le Orme, but also PFM, Il Balletto Di Bronzo and I Dik Dik. The difference between the first five tracks and the final composition Orizzonti is quite remarkable. The latter sounds much more adventurous and elaborate than the rest. First, you hear a swinging rhythm with catchy interplay between a rocky guitar, fat Emersonian synthesizer runs and a propulsive rhythm-section. This part is followed by fiery guitar work and inspired Italian vocals, twanging acoustic guitar and delicate string-ensemble layers. Another part features fluent rhythm and strong solos on guitar and synthesizer and in the end even an avant-garde-like organ solo, pretty experimental compared with most of the material on this album.
This album is a warm and honest tribute to the classic Italian prog rock era. It makes me very curious to the musical direction on Il Ruscello’s next album. I sincerely hope that this promising trio will not turn out to be another one-shot-band.
SOULENGINE – Mind Colours (2010)
SoulenginE is a brand new progressive rock formation that hails from Milan. All members were
already involved in other bands. Guitarist Ettore
Salati was a member of The Watch
for many years. He graduated in modern guitar, contributed to guitar methods
and started his career as a session musician, having worked with highlighted
Italian artists and great musicians like David
Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator,
Peter Gabriel),
Aldo Tagliapietra (Le Orme)
and Karl Potter (
Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus).
Keyboardist Fabio Mancini
got professional degrees in organ and piano and won several organ
contests. He started his professional career playing with many orchestras and choirs
all over Italy, but also teaching piano, organ, theory and harmony. As a solo
artist he gigged all over Europe and recorded piano and organ solo albums. He
was Ettore’s band mate in The Watch as well. Bassist
Nando De Luca started his musical career in Paris studying with
well-known bassist. Back in Italy he collaborated with many solo artists and
bands in different genres with a special glance to jazz-rock projects. He
contributed to rock releases for the Italian scene too, taught bass techniques and
arrangements in schools of music and is frequently on tour with his official
band Gleba and with songwriter and
vocalist Paolo Agosta. Drummer
Giacomo Pacini collaborated with many
Italian artists and he is almost on tour on a daily basis. He studied with
famous international drummers, and then started an intense professional career
that brought him to gig frequently all over Italy with solo artists
(Alex Carpani) and show bands and is now
becoming an appreciated drum instructor. In December 2009 SoulenginE released a single entitled Rain Flower (Fall 2008), the instrumental composition Polheim appeared on Dante’s Purgatorio: The Divine Comedy
4-CD box set and soon their debut album will be released. The band describes their instrumental music as ‘seventies rock and jazz, psychedelia and fusion,
progressive and classic music with a flower power feeling’, influenced by
progressive rock from the seventies (ELP,
Yes, Genesis),
jazz-fusion (Return To Forever,
Weather Report,
Mahavishnu Orchestra), psychedelia (
Pink Floyd, Ozric Tentacles)
and many other styles and artists, due to their
previous musical growing ups. Right now Highway Music and FMCDP are producing
their first album, entitled Mind Colours. The band sent me a promo EP with two tracks. First, the unmastered version of Polheim that sounds dynamic and alternating with elements of ELP, Genesis (bass pedals and mellotron eruptions), Mahavishnu Orchestra (excellent interplay in jazz-rock style) and Rush (synthesizer drops, bass pedals and exciting interaction between guitar, keyboards and rhythm-section). You can hear that the musicians are experienced with many interesting musical ideas. This is a very pleasant first musical encounter with SoulenginE! The other composition is the demo version of their single Rain Flower that starts with a captivating combination of jazz-rock sounding electric piano and guitar and bombastic Hammond-organ, followed by a hard-edged guitar solo. Halfway the atmosphere turns into mellow with soaring electric guitar and mellotron eruptions. Then a splendid build-up follows with tasteful work on guitar and keyboards, a funky bass and in the end a fiery electric guitar solo with wah-wah pedal. This is very dynamic and compelling music. I’m looking forward to their debut album.
TAPOBRAN – Posidonian Fields (2006)
After their wonderful contribution to the CD The
Seven Samurai, The Ultimate Epic that also features
CAP and Tempano,
I was very curious to this new album of Tapobran.
The album contains about 75 percent of prog drenched into the classic seventies
symphonic prog tradition with obvious hints from ELP
along Yes and
Genesis. The music also reminds me of keyboard-driven bands like
Le Orme, Quill
en Lift. In
Immersion we
hear a fluent rhythm with the distinctive Moog-sound and impressive Hammond
work including a swirling solo with those exciting ‘whisks’.
Riding In Posidonian Fields has a
mid-tempo containing great interplay between Hammond and subtle mellotron
choirs and a sumptuous final part with church-organ and again mellotron choirs.
The fluent Octopus and
Entwinnings contain fat Moog-flights,
powerful bass and a lush Hammond and Moog sound. My highlight is
Uncontrolled Dreams starting with
fragile piano and melancholic English vocals, then lots of pleasant shifting
moods featuring great Hammond, fat Moog, sensitive electric guitar, deep Moog
Taurus bass pedal sounds and a delicate jazzy inspired part with organ, bass
and drums. As I stated before, about 75 percent is seventies inspired symphonic
rock, but the remainder contains mainly mellow, often folky sounding tracks
delivering acoustic guitar, grand piano, often melancholic English vocals and
ethnic instruments like bouzouki and bodhran. It took me at least three
listening sessions to get into Tapobran’s new album, but I’m sure that many
symphomaniacs will be delighted about this album. Unfortunately, I still have a
problem. When I want to be carried away to prog heaven by keyboard-driven
seventies inspired symphonic prog, often those mellow, folky sounding songs
take me back to earth.(LA) TORRE DELL’ ALCHIMISTA - USA...You Know? (2005)
Being a European, I have no reason to complain about the bands that visit our
continent: from Anekdoten and
Riverside to Ange
and Moongarden.
However, I’m a bit jealous of the USA prog heads that got the opportunity to
visit the annual prog rock festivals Progfest and Nearfest featuring a
captivating line-up every year! Take, for instance, this concert by the Italian
prog rock formation La Torre Dell' Alchimista
on Nearfest 2002. This is a wonderful tribute to the keyboard
inspired symphonic rock from the seventies especially
ELP.
As a vintage keyboard freak, this album is for me a prog Walhalla:
Hammond, Moogs, Fender Rhodes piano, great! The compositions sound fine, the
vocals are well done. This is simply a ‘must have’ for every seventies prog
rock aficionado.(LA) TORRE DELL’ ALCHIMISTA – Neo (2007)
Since their
eponymous debut album from 2001, this band has changed from a quintet to a
quartet. On this new album, the band are accompanied by guest musicians on
flute, violin, saxophone and guitar. In recent years
La Torre Dell’ Alchimista performed on several festivals like
Nearfe002 in the USA and The Gouviea Art Rock Festival 2005 in Portugal. I
noticed this has boosted their experience and compositorial skills if you
compare Neo with their debut album.The new album contains seven compositions. Most of them sound fluent, melodic and accessible, especially the vocal parts. I had to get used to the vocals in the first song, but gradually I started to appreciate the singer and in the end, I was pleased with his contributions. La Torre Dell’ Alchimista’s sound is drenched with ‘vintage’ keyboards like the Hammond-organ, with obvious hints from Keith Emerson and Rick van der Linden Trace-era), but also synthesizers like the MiniMoog, the Fender Rhodes electric piano, the mellotron and the grand piano. The interplay between the instruments is wonderful and colours this album very tastefully like the ‘Liturgic organ’ and violin in Medusa, a sensitive piano and violin in Risveglio Procreazione E Dubbio part. I, and flute with Fender Rhodes piano and fluent synthesizer flights with intense violin in the final song Risveglio Procreazione E Dubbio part II. Two tracks deliver solo pieces on grand piano: sparkling and compelling in Idra and dreamy, quite romantic in L’Amore Diverso. However, I’m most impressed by the lush keyboard sound featuring bombastic Hammond-organ, majestic mellotron waves and many fat sounding synthesizers. Almost every track contains exciting keyboard work that reminds me of fellow seventies prog legend Rustichelli & Bordini in the bombastic use of Hammond and Moog and Trace in the fast Hammond runs and the use of a wide range of vintage keyboards.
La Torre Dell’Alchimista has made a lot of progress on their new album and especially the vintage keyboard aficionados will be delighted!
UBI MAIOR-Nostos (2005)
Ubi Maior
is a new five-piece band sounding as the most convincing one on the
Biglietto Per L’Inferno-tribute
DVD that also features members from Le Orme,
Banco and Area.
I was very pleased to discover this debut album from Ubi Maior. Vendetta (9.21): after an intro with twanging guitars and sensitive piano, a fluent rhythm follows delivering a Procol Harum- like Hammond-organ sound and an adventurous rhythm-section. Then the music turns into the best prog rock of new Italian bands I have heard since many years: heavy guitar-riffs, majestic mellotron choirs, powerful and moving Italian vocals and howling electric guitars. Splendid!
Terra Madre (6.38): this track sounds as the Italian version of ELP’s single success Lucky Man: the same dreamy, a bit melancholic atmosphere, acoustic guitar and those sensational Moog-flights.
Livia (3.12): this is another dreamy piece with halfway a bombastic eruption. The piano play is wonderful.
Messia (9.36): this is a very strong composition with tasteful arrangements and subtle musical ideas with many compelling parts featuring sumptuous Hammond-organ, inspired vocals early Marillion to my mind. This is a very dynamic song, especially in the final part delivering heavy guitar riffs.
Oltre Il Vetro (3.45): a mellow song featuring warm vocals, sensitive acoustic guitar including a short solo and soaring mellotron violins.
Nostos (23.06): the title track is the 'magnum opus' of this CD starting with twanging guitars, soaring keyboards and warm vocals, followed by a fragile Hammond solo. Very tasteful. Then we hear lots of flowing shifting moods, from dreamy to bombastic. Halfway a great build-up with a huge tension featuring protrusive guitar riffs, powerful, a bit theatrical vocals, howling electric guitar runs, impressive mellotron choirs and a grand finale delivering swirling organ and fat guitar licks. Great!
La Tua Casa Comoda (5.22): the final song is a compelling and captivating one with a sparkling piano, fine mellotron and mellow organ. The final part contains a biting, wah-wah drenched electric guitar solo and floods of Hammond-organ.
This CD deserves worldwide recognition. What a warm, inspired and strong prog rock sound!
UBI MAIOR – Senza Tempo (2009)
In 2005, Ubi Maior
pleasantly surprised many prog heads with their debut album
Nostos. Their music is firmly rooted in the
classic prog tradition including the use of vintage keyboards. Especially the
mellotron sound is awesome. At that time, Ubi Maior also performed on a
Biglietto Per L’Inferno
tribute concert together with legendary Italian bands like
Le Orme, Banco
and Area. To me this new
Italian five-piece was as one of the most convincing acts! Now, four years
later, Ubi Maior released their long awaited successor
Senza Tempo
(timeless). Was it worth waiting that long? Yes, it was! Listening to
Senza Tempo I noticed that the band
matured during the years between the two albums. The ten compositions on
Senza Tempo
sound more balanced and structured than on Nostos.
The contribution of singer and electric violinist Mario Moi is important. He has a somewhat raw and passionate voice in Disperazione, Delirio and Destino. He colours the music in a special
way with strong theatrical undertones, a perfect match with Ubi Maior’s often
dark, expressive and heavy bombastic prog rock. At other times, he sounds warm,
almost tender like in the mellow mid-section of Sogno
combined with
beautiful mellotron-violin sounds. That also counts for the intro of
Desiderio, a wonderful duet with sparkling
grand piano and, especially in the first part of
Distruzione, a subtle
blend of warm vocals, Fender Rhodes-like piano and floating keyboards. What
impressed me most, however, is the way Ubi Maior succeeds in building up
tension in many songs. The long composition Delirio
delivers moving
guitar pieces and swirling Hammond organ. The exciting and varied
Destino has a fantastic grand finale
with a strong reference to Pallas
due to the melllotron-choir sounds and the fiery guitar runs. Another strong
example is Sogno: heavy
with a dark atmosphere in the vein of
Il Balletto Di Bronzo, sultry with
floating mellotron choirs, slow rhythms with howling guitars and inspired
vocals, bombastic fragments with protrusive guitar riffs and mellotron-violin
waves. In Desiderio, you can enjoy a
beautiful grand piano intro with warm vocals, bombastic
eruptions with intense guitar and majestic mellotron choirs. In the sultry
Distruzione,
you hear dreamy hypnotizing Fender piano, romantic vocals and melancholic
electric violin. The short track Morte sounds as a PFM-inspired ‘classic meets rock’ song with lots of Moog and Hammond along folky acoustic rhythm guitar. After the long and alternating composition Destino, the band ends with the dreamy Morte Part IV featuring warm acoustic guitar, electric violin and pleasant vocals. This final track is a good example of how Ubi Maior maintains the balance on Senza Tempo. We had to wait four years, but finally we can listen to the second and highly recommended Ubi Maior CD.
(THE) WATCH – Primitive (2007)
I still remember hearing the Peter Gabriel-like
voice of Simone Rosetti for the
first time. At that time, I wrote reviews for the Dutch prog rock magazine iO
Pages. I got every promo similar to early Genesis
or mellotron-drenched, so I also received Twilight
by Simone Rosetti’s first band The Night Watch.
Indeed, within a few minutes the music carried me away to early
Genesis. Ten years later and three years after their second effort
Vacuum, the new album by
The Watch evoke the same atmosphere.
It’s sound again comes pretty close to early Genesis
(Nursery Cryme-Foxtrot-era)
blended with the neo-prog by early IQ,
but less dynamic and less elaborate.
The seven pleasant and melodic compositions deliver frequent mellotron
eruptions, passionate Peter Gabriel-like vocals and some sensitive electric
guitar work. In general, the atmosphere is quite dreamy and mellow, but from
time to time, you get bombastic eruptions and accelerations as well. To me the
music on this new album sounds as ‘pastoral prog’: wonderful and tastefully
coloured, but a bit too subdued. A number of songs couldn’t keep my attention.
Nonetheless, I’m sure many fans of the band – I’m not really one of them - will
be delighted with this new effort. In my opinion, it’s their most mature effort
to date.(THE) WATCH – Live (2008)
In The Netherlands The Watch is a rather
popular band. I even noticed that Dutch symphomaniac ‘Tattoo’ Ko is mentioned
in the booklet of this album! I’ve seen The Watch several times since their
early days and I was in the audience during their acclaimed performance on
Symforce II, a part of the 2008 tour that is now out on CD. Their pleasant and melodic sound alternates between 1970-1973 Genesis-era, from mellow with acoustic guitars and flute to bombastic with bass pedals, Hackett-inspired guitar work, organ and mellotron to early IQ, compelling with powerful interplay between moving guitar and heavy trons. The emphasis in the seven tasteful compositions is on creating an intense often mellotron-drenched atmospheres rather than complexity and
inventive arrangements. The enthusiastic and sympathic singer
Simone Rossetti has the same
melancholic undertone as Peter Gabriel
has. When closing your eyes only his Italian accent reveals that he’s not! An
original song is the dreamy Riding The Elephant
because of its electronic-oriented atmosphere with howling guitar
and majestic mellotron violins. Halfway the medley
Twilight Alehouse/Another Life we can enjoy a bombastic 24-carat
symphonic rock sound with lush mellotron, a deep bass pedal sound and a
sensitive guitar solo. Goose bumps! However, the absolute highlight on this
live album is the final track Berlin 1936
first with dreamy vocals, then a mid-tempo with bombastic interplay between
organ and guitar, wonderful mellotron drops and finally the ultimate symphonic
rock sound featuring moving guitar work with volume pedal, bass pedals,
mellotron choirs and Hammond-organ. Who will beg for more! Although I’m not a real fan of The Watch, I’m very pleased with this album, because in my opinion their sound on stage is more powerful and captivating than on the studio-albums. Many early Genesis and IQ-fans will be delighted about this live album.
WICKED MINDS – Live At Burg Herzberg Festival 2006 (2007)
New band Wicked Minds is a ‘musical
time-machine’ that brings you back to the heavy progressive sound of the
exciting seventies era. You can enjoy lots if swirling Hammond-organ solos, a
fiery and biting guitar-drenched sound and vocals sounding like
David Byron. The songs are rather
simple, but very catchy and compelling. They will appeal to fans of mainly
Uriah Heep, but also
Deep Purple,
Atomic Rooster and even Jimi Hendrix.
Through My Love is an
obvious tribute to the late Jimi featuring a long and distorted guitar solo.
This album was recorded in Germany and it’s great to hear how proud the Germans
were to present Wicked Minds to the audience. I only missed some refinements
their studio album Witchflower had:
wider range of keyboards and the use of acoustic guitar. On the other hand, the
band let you freak out, so if you’re into the above-mentioned bands or if you
are a Hammond-organ aficionado, check this one out!
Proceed to Chapter 5: Reunions of Legendary and Popular Bands In The Last Decade
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