Il Bacio di Giuda came to life in Rome in 2000 on the initiative of Marco Tesoriero (vocals) and Paolo Vigliarolo (guitar), then joined by Marco Berni (keyboards). Later the line up was completed by Orazio Fabbri (bass) and Fabio Migliori (drums) and in 2005 the band self-released an interesting eponymous demo EP and made it available in free download from their official website. The sources of inspiration range from Italian prog masters of the seventies such as Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso or Area to canzone d’autore and more recent acts and in my opinion it’s a real pity that the band did not last long and called it a day in 2007...
The opener “Alba metallica” (Metallic dawn) starts with a slow pace, a strummed guitar and a dreamy atmosphere where the music and lyrics evoke pastoral landscapes and the smells and sounds of an uncontaminated country... Then the rhythm rises and the instrumental breaks could recall bands such as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Goblin as the dream turns into nightmare and you can feel the fear that a tree could experience in front of a man, a member of the most dangerous, destructive species of living beings, the species that is transforming Amazonia into an arid desert...
“Il lago” (The lake) is a long, introspective piece that starts with an acoustic guitar arpeggio. The music and the hermetic lyrics conjure up the image of a running train and the fading memories of an unquiet night, abstract wars of dark lights, fog and dust. There’s a lake and descent forces that push a man toward the deep waters in an emotional network of simultaneous contrasts... Then beautiful instrumental crescendo finale is a kind of trip into the unknown of the meaning of life.
The claustrophobic “Insonorizzato” (Soundproof) tells of a deep personal crises and alienation. The music and lyrics draw the image of a man alone in his room, then try to depict his inner pain and silent screams on the brink of madness...
The melancholic “La musica di Giuda” (Judas’ music) is a kind of programmatic manifesto and is related to the name of the band that means “Judas’ kiss”. According to an old interview, this kiss should not be considered as an affront or a betrayal but as the kiss of those who regret a mistake made; however, it is not the kiss of a formal apology, but a truly sincere act, in the conscious desperation that it is now too late to remedy it. This kiss should be the desirable one for anyone in everyday life but above all in relation to more general issues such as the evils that afflict the world (war), in which everything, after the mistakes made, is reduced to pure formality. This is the common thread of the pieces songs, even if apparently they deal with different topics and issues.
An instrumental version of “La musica di Giuda” closes this very promising work. Unfortunately the members of the band couldn’t keep the promises and parted ways...
Where are they now? Well, Paolo Vigliarolo, Marco Berni and Orazio Fabbri joined, one after each other, Giancarlo Erra and his project NoSound (Official Website) but Marco Berni is also involved in another interesting prog project called Prototype Lab (Official Website). Fabio Migliori is currently the drummer of a Heavy Metal band called Enemynside (Official Website) while Marco Tesoriero (Facebook), after a long hiatus, has recently self-released two albums in a singer-songwriter style, Questaterra! (2020) and Funamboli astrali (2021)
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