A MYSTERIOUS LETTER

Vespro is the third full length album by Mysteria Noctis and was self-released in 2025 with a confirmed line up featuring Alberto Negretti (vocals), Alessio Negretti (guitars), Giacomo Piccinini (drums), Gioele D'Adda (bass) and Mattia Di Lorenzo (keyboards). It marks another step forward for the band, the musical fabric is very rich and variegated blending progressive rock with touches of electronica, synthwave, rap and black metal. According to an interview with the band, “Vespro is a concept album that tells the story of a man who, driven by an anonymous letter, sets out to find the sender. along the way, he embarks on a journey that forces him to confront his past. The central theme driving the entire story is that of choices and their consequences…”. (You can read the complete interview HERE). The art cover by Giacomo Tagnin gives a visual form to the atmospheres of the album...

 

The opener “Ombre dal passato” (Shadows from the past) sets the atmosphere. An acoustic guitar intro and a tormented voice open the album evoking a trembling hand writing a letter full of poisonous questions, addressed to a man who has changed over the years and seems to have forgotten his past. When the rhythm increases the image and perspective change. Night falls and the voice of the person who received the letter can be heard. The evil evoked by the sender envelops the protagonist like a shadow that takes his breath away. The journey in search of the mysterious sender begins, and the departure is described by the following short instrumental “Discesa” (Descent)...

“Anatema” (Anathema), on an apparently cheerful rhythm with echoes of eighties synthwave, describes the torment of the protagonist, visibly shaken by the mysterious call from his past and the shadows it evokes. The protagonist questions himself and questions his glass muse (a sort of woman-city metaphor of his present) on the opportunity to leave and begin a dangerous journey. The need to leave becomes more and more pressing, even if the response of the glass muse is extremely disturbing, a dark omen of perpetual damnation where the synth-wave echoes veer towards black metal hints...

“Ritorno” (Return) paints in music and words the protagonist who, alone and lost, travels along the traces of his past. Faces hidden in the fog watch him and hide the identity of the mysterious author of the letter. Afflicted by too many unanswered questions, by the memory of broken dreams, sacrifices and abandonments on the roads of his past, the protagonist goes on and on with many doubts but without fear...

 

A delicate piano passage introduces the following “Valzer d’inverno” (Winter waltz), a piece that describes the passion of a brief and intense relationship, a romance with a woman soon forgotten by the protagonist, a woman among many. What remains of that love story? The flames of passion have now given way to ashes and disenchantment, to broken dreams and broken promises, deceptions and betrayal. What remains is just a face that fades into the fog and perhaps a veil of nostalgia and regret...

“Ricordi?” (Do you remember?) begins with a short drum passage. It is a caustic piece that evokes the anger of a forgotten friend and rival of the protagonist in the race for success. A friend that the protagonist has ruined and humiliated. A sacrificial victim who has developed a deep hatred towards him. The meeting with his shadow is another ominous omen about the end of the journey that the protagonist has undertaken...

“Il processo” (The trial) opens with a slow and mournful marching pace. A hostile voice introduces the trial and invites the accused to face the charges. A rapped vocal part summarizes the accusations and invites the protagonist to look at that betrayed and forgotten woman who now takes care of her (and his) son and at the trampled and humiliated rival. The price of success is damnation, the verdict is one of condemnation. But the author of the letter is not among the jurors. He is still waiting for the protagonist at the pass...

 

Mysteria Noctis, 2025

The long, complex “La villa” (The villa) tells of the end of the journey. In fact, the journey ends in a dark and remote villa, the tomb of an unforgiving past. The piece opens with strong classical influences and then turns to threatening, heavy atmospheres. Growling, rap, operatic and theatrical voices combine to describe the scenes of an inner hell where you can find resentment and repentance. The protagonist feels that he is not alone in the villa but is welcomed only by dark presences. Four rooms are open. In one he sees the woman he left pregnant with his child, the woman he abandoned, in another room there’s an innocent man who ended up in jail because of him, in the third a neglected friend who hanged himself while he was having fun at a party. In each room screams and damnation. In the last one the author of the letter awaits him...

The disquieting “L’ultima porta” (The last door) describes the protagonist ready to cross the last door and meet his fate. Of all the shadows, that of the author of the letter is the most feared. In the end, the most feared shadow turns out to be that of his soul. Now the protagonist understands that he is the monster who caused so much pain and inside a mirror he sees his soul dying. All the lights go out, between fear and remorse. It is his soul that wrote the letter, it is his hand. The man the protagonist was looking for is none other than himself. But when the final credits roll, the protagonist can still choose between forgiveness and oblivion...

The last track, “L’ombra” (The shadow), opens with powerful electric guitar riffs and a fast pace. The protagonist’s hand still trembles as he writes the final words of a farewell to himself. He realizes he is the monster and condemns himself to death. Perhaps there is another path of penance and forgiveness, but will forgiveness be enough to save him from himself? The conclusion is left to the listener. The night falls among the shadows of the past and an ink-stained letter...

On the whole, a very good work that deserves a try.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/MysteriaNoctis/ 

BEES AND FEARS

Vulnera, the second full length album by Mysteria Noctis, was released in 2020 with a renewed line up featuring Alberto Negretti (vocals), Alessio Negretti (guitars), Giacomo Piccinini (drums), Gioele D'Adda (bass) and Mattia Di Lorenzo (keyboards) plus the guest vocalists Eleonora Ferrari, Vittorio Iannaco and KDone. It confirms the departure from the decidedly black metal sound of the debut work offering a music style difficult to pigeonhole. Throughout the album you can find metal passages alternating with melodic sections and a prog rock veined with touches of electronic music and classical influences. The music and lyrics try to reflect anxiety and restlessness: in fact, according to the band, the protagonist of this work is the man, caught in an intimate and at times desperate search for himself who inevitably clashes with his fragility and helplessness...

 

The opener “Am I Here?” refers to the art cover and evokes bees all around and inside the head of the protagonist. It’s a piece expressing a strong sense of bewilderment... Then it’s the turn of “Thoughts”, a piece that expresses an inner search that remains unsatisfied. Next comes the nightmarish “A Supplication”, a long, complex track where the protagonist is on his knees in front of a jury, put on a hopeless trial leading him to the death penalty...

On “Ultimo canto” (Last singing) the rhythm slackens and the vocals turn from English to Italian. It’s a touching ballad about love and death featuring a guest female vocalist who duets with the band’s singer. The music and lyrics conjure up a spectral atmosphere as the protagonist answers the irresistible call of the Grim Reaper without fear...

 

On the following “Night Light” the rhythm rises again bringing demons and fears for an infernal ride into the night. This song is sung in English while for the next one, the melodic “Nell’anima” (In the soul), the band chose again their mother language to express the heat of an inner fire that burns inside the soul and makes the protagonist look up at the sky to overcome a sense of obscure, thundering solitude and uneasiness...

The last track, “Red Sea”, is the most ambitious of the album and the most accomplished of the lot. According to the band, this composition was inspired by the classical form of the sonata and features some guest vocalists. Eventually it brings a pinch of optimism and some rays of light after the previous dark atmospheres. The journey comes to an end as the protagonist wakes up under a new sun...

On the whole, an interesting work that deserves a try.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/MysteriaNoctis/ 

DIMENSIONS AND TRUTH

 

Mysteria Noctis came to life in Como in 2011 on the initiative of Alessio Negretti, Alberto Negretti and Giacomo Piccinini, inspired by bands such as Opeth, Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater. After a long time spent in the rehearsal room and a good live activity on the local scene, in 2015 they self-produced and released a debut full length album entitled Higher Dimensions with a line up featuring Alberto Negretti (vocals), Alessio Negretti (guitars), Matteo Menafro (keyboards), Pietro Francoli (bass) and Giacomo Piccinini (drums).

 

It’s a still immature work where death and black metal sounds prevail although the band try to blend them with many other different influences, from jazz to prog. Wild, raw sections characterized by growl and screamed voices alternate with calmer acoustic passages and symphonic digressions throughout the five long tracks of the album. “Decadence”, “Cry Of The Ocean”, “Iter Mentis In Deum”, “Logos” and “Of Flames And Eternity” give life to a kind of suite full of interesting ideas, although not always musically coherent. Nonetheless, for the band this was just the starting point...

You can listen to the complete album HERE

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The follow up of Mysteria Noctis’ debut album is Quid est veritas?, an EP that was released in 2017. It represents a step forward and an important change of direction in the style of the band when compared with the previous work from 2015. It was released on the independent Areasonica Records label with a confirmed line up featuring Alberto Negretti (vocals), Alessio Negretti (guitars), Matteo Menafro (keyboards), Pietro Francoli (bass) and Giacomo Piccinini (drums). Here the musicians leave back most of their death and black metal influences in the search for a more personal style. According to the band, this work is focused on the search for Truth, in the deepest and most absolute sense of the term. It’s the human journey towards the light that drives away the unknown, a path that tries to get closer to knowledge but is strewn with obstacles and rarely reaches a definitive conclusion in the span of a single lifetime.

 

The title track is a long suite sung in Italian (despite the title being in Latin) for which the band also shot a video directed by Simone Sacchi. It depicts the regrets that emerge from foggy memories and from the ashes of an arrogant ego obsessed with knowledge and blinded by greed. But the truth is that a man will never understand the nature of what lies behind the veil of the senses...

 

The second and last track, the lively “Swinging Mind”, is shorter and is sung in English. In the own words of the band, two progressive rock songs with two different perspectives, different styles that manage to complete a story by making the most of the combination of the tension and restlessness that form the background to the first song and the pinch of madness and instability that unfold during the second...

You can listen to complete the EP HERE

 

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/MysteriaNoctis/

A MATTER OF CHOICE

Libero arbitrio is the first solo album by Amos Ghirardelli, a keyboard player and composer from Sassuolo, now based in the province of Venice, with years of experience behind him. It was released in 2024 on the independent Velut Luna label and recorded with the contribute of a group of talented musicians who help highlight the compositional value of the pieces, mostly inspired by the symphonic progressive rock of the seventies. In fact, the line-up includes Amos Ghiradelli himself (keyboards), Andrea Valfrè (keyboards), Filippo Ghirardelli (piano), Andrea Ghion (bass - from Egonon and Aldo Tagliapietra Band), Roberto Parolin (drums - from Egonon), Matteo Ballarin (guitar - from The Former Life and Aldo Tagliapietra Band) and Massimo Bellio (vocals). The recording sessions took place at Magister Recording Area, in Preganziol, Treviso on August and September 2024 and I’m sure that the final result will please many prog fans...

The title track, “Libero arbitrio” (Free will), is a sort of declaration of intent that opens the album. It’s a long suite that starts by rarefied and dreamy atmospheres. The rhythm is slow but gradually grows while the melodic lines evoke strange trajectories in space and time. Then a short funky section followed by a marching beat introduces the sung part. The title refers to the capacity to choose between different possible courses of action, an ability that is connected to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, advice, persuasion, deliberation and prohibition. But do not worry, this is not a boring philosophical treatise. The music and lyrics are meant to give a stern warning: it is better to take the time to listen and carefully consider the advice of interested benefactors who could do you a lot of harm. They are like beasts that hunt you, black crows that do not help you, they are like a pack of wicked children who do not know the limit of fear and who seek you... You’ve better get rid of those people! Think twice and make your own choices...

The long instrumental “Oltre la nebbia” (Beyond the fog) begins by a slow keyboard intro that paints in black the musical canvas. Then dark organ sounds set a mystical atmosphere and a sense of bewilderment and restlessness. The central section with a delicate piano theme could make one think of a boat searching for its way through the fog, illuminated by soft night lights, among the narrow canals of Venice, while the final part, more decisive and jazzy, seems to suggest the exit from the strange lagoon web made of fog, doubts and nostalgia and the beginning of a new journey towards the unknown...

“Frammento di me” (Fragment of me) is an introspective and melodic song that speaks of the awareness of one's choices with hermetic verses and fragmentary images. Without scruples the protagonist rearranges and finds new words that he then interprets. Shivers of fantasy flow and the colours of May offer us images and destinations without tomorrow where you can get lost. Try to surrender to dreams while the mind leads you to secret places where you can find new songs. Don't let yourself get down, choose and what you have chosen will become possible and will make you see the deception of your freedom...

Then comes another long instrumental piece, “Dreaming Sanremo”. The organ introduction evokes an almost liturgical atmosphere, then the rhythm increases and the music takes you on unexpected paths, where relaxed and nocturnal moments alternate with sunny and majestic passages. The sky is a wonder and flowers are everywhere. Maybe it’s not for nothing that Sanremo, the city of the title, is also known as the city of flowers. By the way, Sanremo is also famous for the Italian song festival, an event that fortunately has very little to do with this track...

The short instrumental “Malinconia” (Melancholy) closes the album with a soft and relaxed atmosphere. Here you can find a hint of nostalgia and a touch of regret while the notes are used as pastel colours to paint an expressionist picture...

On the whole, a very interesting album that is worth listening to.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.referencemusicstore.it 

ANOTHER TRIP

 Now The Time Has Come is the second album by The Trip’s new course started in 2015 on the initiative of original drummer Pino Sinnone who took over the name and brand (initially as The New Trip) to keep alive the old repertoire of the band. While the previous work from 2021, Caronte 50 Years Later, was mainly focused on the re-interpretation of tracks from the early years of the band, this new album is based only on original pieces and fresh ideas. The consolidated line up features Pino Sinnone (drums), Andrea “Ranfa” Ranfagni (lead and backing vocals), Carmine Capasso (guitars, sitar, theremin, percussion, drums), Tony Alemanno (bass) and Andrea “Dave” D’Avino (Hammond, piano) plus the guests Nico Di Palo (vocals), Max Botto (Hammond, Moog, Mellotron, piano) and Giuseppe Sarno (Hammond). This work is not a concept album but in some way follows the atmospheres of The Trip’s second album from 1971, Caronte. The beautiful art cover by Lidia Grillo tries to give an idea of the musical content...

 

 

The album opens with the excellent instrumental “Joe’s Spirit”, composed by Max Botto and dedicated, as you can guess from the title, to The Trip’s original keyboardist and founder member Joe Vescovi. It’s a brilliant piece with many classical quotes and changes of rhythm. The atmosphere is dark, the organ is in the forefront backed by the rhythm section and everything works to help you cross the Styx on Charon’s boat...

 

 “Fragile Mimì” is sung in Italian and is dedicated to the memory of late Italian pop singer Mia Martini, an old friend of the band who had a love affair with Joe Vescovi in the seventies. It’s a delicate, intense ballad who evoke the sublime melodies that the singer was able to create with her voice. Described as sad and fragile, Mia is now just another star in the sky, a light in the darkness who has chosen to hide to find shelter from the judgements of malevolent people... 

 

 “Enigma” is another beautiful instrumental piece. It begins by threatening bass lines and dark organ sounds, then the drums and fiery electric guitar riffs break in contributing to build up an atmosphere of mystery and distress, perfectly suited to evoke a strange walk in the underworld where you can meet the souls of the dead...

 

 

 “Il mio capitano” (My captain) is dedicated to the memory of Pino Sinnone’s older brother, Rino. It’s another touching ballad interpreted by the particular voice of the special guest Nico Di Palo, historic member of New Trolls. The music and lyrics evoke an indelible memory emerging from the past and depict the image of two little children in the cold, lost in the snow. One of them shows his courage helping and comforting his younger brother...

 

 Unfortunately, in the following ballad “Two Friends” the vocals turn to English. The music and the hermetic lyrics tell of a surreal friendship where music is the real protagonist... Then comes the intense “Four Lives”, a piece dedicated to the late members of the band, Joe Vescovi, Wegg Andersen and Billy Gray. Pino Sinnone is the only surviving member of the original line-up but he feels that his former bandmates are still with him while he plays to keep their memory alive...

 

The Trip, 2023

 

 The autobiographical “Momento Prog”, despite the Italian title, is sung in English and sums up the spirit of this work. It’s a piece that starts by telling about the birth of a child's passion for rock music and drums, then recalls with puns based on the titles of the songs from the early years the experience and passion of playing together in a band like The Trip and ends by telling about the joy of picking up the drumsticks again and starting to play again after a long period of musical inactivity... 

 

 The album closes with an alternative version of “Il mio capitano”, sung this time by Andrea Ranfagni and considered a “bonus track”.

 

 On the whole, a very good work.

 

 You can listen to the complete album HERE

 

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/thetripbandofficial