I really liked Oblivion (2023, see review), the third album made by Simone Cozzetto. And now this Italian guitarist/multi-instrumentalist releases his fourth album called Le Miroir. It is a concept album - featuring seven tracks - trying to face our innate ambivalence and duplicity as the mirror becomes a tangible metaphor of an inner struggle. Composition-wise the entire album is built on a stereophonic play where some instruments have been recorded on the left audio channel and at the same time reversed on the right channel. Cozzetto is again assisted by guitarists Kee Marcello (Europe) and Ludovico Piccinini (Cherry Five), singers Durga McBroom (Pink Floyd) and Francesco Marino (The Glam), drummer Allesandro Inolti and acoustic guitarist Michele Kraisky. The rather short album kicks off with Don't Talk To The Mirror, a laid back, almost ballad-like track, featuring the rather “weird” vocals - check out the accent and pronunciation - of Francesco Marino and the first beautiful, melodic guitar solo of Cozzetto. Follow up is the title track, being the longest song of the album, and this is the first highlight as it is packed with more than awesome guitar picking. In The Storm is the first instrumental song and the fast, but still very melodic solos of Cozzetto never seem to bore me; excellent guitar stuff. Dysphoria is the other instrumental track here and that one is again filled with high-pitched arpeggios and awesome, fast soloing indeed. The ballad-like last track is called Sundowning and that one features Durga McBroom on lead and backing vocals, while Michele Kraisky plays acoustic flanger guitar, creating a swirling harmonic effect like you can hear in songs like Van Halen's Unchained or Rush's The Spirit Of Radio. Sundowning is a rather dull song, which does not seem to come to life, only at the end when Cozzetto delivers one of his nice solos the track seems to lighten up... So, it is a fine album, but in my humble opinion, Cozzetto's previous album was much better. As Le Miroir is rather average, composition-wise, but also musical-wise and that is mainly due to the dull vocals of Marino; sad but true as Cozzetto's guitar playing is again top notch. No doubt about that! *** Martien Koolen (edited by Dave Smith) Where to buy? |
