This Italian outfit has released a cool EP. It’s definitely prog rock, but more along the lines of the newer version of that genre than the classic one. It’s good stuff. There’s nothing that should really throw off old school prog purists, but yet it is not set in that version of the sound very much at all. I like this a lot and am looking forward to hearing more from this group.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2009 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
La Dance There is some distorted distant screaming at the start of this. Then a sort of weird percussive element rises upward. From there a mellow prog sound emerges, moving slowly and methodically. As guitar gets ready to solo melodically over the top there is another scream. The cut moves forward from that point. After a time the pace and intensity both increase. The vocals join. This earns a parental advisory for the lyrics. This is sort of post punk in a lot of ways. Then again, a lot of that sound is quite prog rock oriented. This is a cool opener for sure.
About the Being This comes in more tentatively with pretty and rather somber mellower musical motifs taking us into some rather fusion-like territory. There’s a bit of an ‘80’s texture to the vocal sections on this tune. It soars out later into something that has elements of both old school progressive rock and more modern acts like Porcupine Tree. This takes it to the short outro.
Italian Style Powerful and harder rocking, this is more in keeping with the modern wave of progressive rock acts, but there are bits of both Rush and King Crimson in this beast, too. This short instrumental also has hints of Pink Floyd.
Syncrony Based in mellower musical motifs, this cut has some healthy Pink Floyd references, but I can also hear Rick Wakeman solo at times and it gets a bit crunchy at others. I think this is quite similar to Lands End in a lot of ways.
Su Pieeu A piano and vocal ballad, this is pretty, but also melancholy. It is quite classical in nature, but also makes me think of Queen at times.
