NATURAL FREQUENCIES

 La Stazione delle Frequenze are a young band from Benevento that try to blend the sound of historic Italian prog bands such as Osanna, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso or Locanda delle Fate with prog metal and canzone d’autore. Formed in 2016, after a couple of years spent composing original stuff and performing live on the local scene, in 2019 they self-released an interesting debut album entitled “Physis” with a line up featuring Alberto Cervone (vocals), Angelantonio Donisi (guitar), Pierfrancesco Corbo (guitar), Andrea Tretola (keyboards), Luca Iorio (bass) and Andrea Passaro (drums). According to the band, the title of the album refers to a Greek philosophical, theological and scientific term that means nature and all the tracks follow a common thread, that of the human nature and its relationship with the environment, narrated through different experiences and stories. The art work by Adolfo Calandro tries to describe the conceptual content...

The dreamy opener “Dissolvenza” (Fading) is a short instrumental piece that sets the atmosphere and leads to the social committed “A Siria” (To Syria) that alternates raging passages where the music and lyrics describe a  land ravaged by war, where obscurantism and ignorance rule, and softer parts where there’s room for the hope you can find in the pure, sincere soul of a little baby named Siria like the tormented Middle-Eastern country... 

The following “Ombre sul mare” (Shadows on the sea) starts by a quiet piano pattern, then heavy guitar riffs come in, the rhythm rises and frenzied passages alternates with softer ones. It’s a piece full of hope in a hostile world where even the sea of fantasy hides hooks and baits. The music and lyrics praise the force of people who never give up their ideals and are always ready to accept new challenges, who refuse violence and proudly walk on the ruins of a gloomy past trying to be like rain falling in the arid desert of melancholy...

La Stazione delle Frequenze on stage, 2019

“Racconto” (Tale) tells in music and words a story set in an ancient castle that was freely inspired by an old Samnite legend. A mischievous imp called Mazzamauriello falls in love with the blacksmith’s beautiful daughter who runs away, frightened by his behaviour. Upset, all the people of the surroundings follow her leaving the castle desert. The imp then promises to change his way of life and the story comes to a happy end...

The dreamy “Non ci resta che aspettare l’aurora” (We just have to wait for the dawn) is a short piece that depicts a peaceful, pastoral landscape at the end of a beautiful summer day and leads to the epic “Il sentiero del vento” (The path of the wind), a long, complex track divided into two parts dealing with the eternal cycle of the seasons and the regenerating powers of Mother Nature, fears and expectations, the will to go on and overcome all the obstacles you can find on the steep paths of life just to breathe a fresh gust of happiness... Then the joyful “Nuovi Orizzonti” (New horizons) ends the album with its strong charge of optimism and hope for better days to come. 

On the whole, a very promising work that is really worth listening to.

You can listen to the album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/SDForiginal/

FROM AN ISLAND

Island Tales is the first full length album by La Rua Catalana, a band from Benevento formed in 2009. It was released in 2015 on the independent label Octopus Records with a line up featuring Leonardo De Stasio (vocals, guitars), Corrado Ciervo (violin, guitars, keyboards, synth, backing vocals), Vittorio Coviello (flute, backing vocals), Marco Coviello (drums, cajon, percussion, didgeridoo) and Carlo Ciervo (bass). After two EP and a good live activity on the local scene, the band had the chance to spend some time in the old monastery of Zungoli, near Avellino, to work on their compositions and the peaceful atmosphere and the good vibrations of this unusual location contributed to shape the overall sound of the album, influenced by bands such as The Beatles, Jethro Tull and many others...

After the pre-production, for the recording sessions in the studio they were helped by some guest musicians such as Daniele Pescatore (keyboards), Valentina Acca (backing vocals), Fabio Cesare (sax), Luigi De Cicco (guitar) and a string quartet, the Arechi Quartet featuring Lorenza Maio (violin), Federica Paduano (violin), Federica Bibbo’ (viola) and Alessandra Ercolani (cello). The result of their efforts is good, although at times I would have preferred they had used their native language instead of English...

La Rua Catalana 2015

According to the band, the title of the album, Island Tales, refers to a metaphorical island, a kind of shelter from the storms of life where time stands still and you can live your dreams. The music is not overtly complex but always well refined and the simple melodies are enhanced by intriguing parts of flute and strings. The opener, “Moon's Joke” is a dynamic ballad dedicated to the people in search for happiness that every now and again recalls Jethro Tull, then comes the jazzy “The Island” that tells of lost dreams and shining smiles opposed to a bleak reality...

The caustic “The Colonel” was inspired by the fictional character of Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, portrayed by Marlon Brando, while the following, bitter-sweet “The clown” tells of a sad man who has to make people laugh for a living. Then comes “Song For Jeff”, inspired by the death of Jeff Buckley and musically a bit in debt with George Harrison…

The swinging, careless “Dreamland” is about an escape from reality, a visionary daydream where you can find an ideal world. Next come the cover of a Tunng’s song, “Bullets”, and the melodic, light “Escape! (Break!)”. The new romantic waves of the folksy ballad “Goodbye” bring other dreams under the moonlight while the following “Slow Down” is more complex and tells about the need to take a pause from the daily grind.

The nervous “And I'll Never Know” (about a difficult relationship) and the delicate, melancholic “Gold And Silver Wings” (about a solitary man who tries to escape from the gilded cage of his routine) close an album full of interesting ideas and light melodies that is worth listening to...

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/laruacatalana/

A WONDERFUL WORKSHOP

La Bottega del Tempo a Vapore come from Benevento and began life in 2014 on the initiative of guitarist and composer Alessandro Zeoli and writer and lyricist Alfredo Martinelli. The name of the band can be loosely translated as "The Steam-Time Workshop" and their aim is to blend poetry, legends and history giving form to modern rock operas inspired by the music of bands such as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Dream Theater, Angra, Liquid Tension Experiment, Epica, Two Steps From Hell, Porcupine Tree, Haken and many others. In 2015 the band self released a very interesting debut album entitled Il guerriero errante (The wondering warrior) with a line up featuring Alessandro Zeoli (guitar), Alfredo Martinelli (libretto and concept), Angelo D'Amelio (keyboards, sax), Angelo Santo (vocals), Gabriele Beatrice (drums), Giovanni Santamaria (guitar) and Giuseppe Barbato (bass). It's a concept album based upon a short story by Alfredo Martinelli that tells the legend of a mysterious Samnite-Lombard warrior...

The short, dreamy instrumental "Overture" sets the atmosphere drawing you into the mist of time, where the legend becomes reality... You're now in the Duchy of Benevento, in the Langobardia Minor, during the Middle-Age and you can see a brave warrior leading the army of the king out of the city walls... The following "Fumo d'anime" (Smoke of souls) evokes a battle and features marching drums and aggressive electric guitar riffs. The brave warrior leads his soldiers against the enemy and they're like a raging wave... The music and lyrics conjure up images and visions, the blood is burning in the flesh of the fighting men while the wind sweeps away dust and screams all day long. Eventually, the dark veil of the night comes down on the battlefield...

"Ordine e follia" (Order and madness) begins softly, it's the calm after the storm and you can relax for a while... Then you can hear the soaring notes of a cheerful folksy dance. In the city the people are celebrating the victory, barefoot dancers are moving in the firelight and the voices of the women have a therapeutic effect on the tired, injured soldiers... The king sees the brave warrior wondering alone in the crowd and orders him to fetch the Lady, the promised bride of the prince, and take her to the royal palace. The voice of the king is like a vortex, a lightning coming from a demon... Here the music becomes harder and heavy electric guitar riffs mark the sudden change of atmosphere... Then a delicate acoustic guitar arpeggio leads to new horizons and the rising sun...

The following "Arabeschi sentieri" (Arabesque paths) drives you through a labyrinth of narrow streets and obscure paths. The brave warrior has to escort the lady to the palace where she will be taught the rules of the court... You can feel desires drawing in the sea of life, suffocated by imperious orders while the music and lyrics evoke whirling emotions, dazzling sensations, hidden feelings. The infinite paths of life can be complex and treacherous... The warrior and the lady are victims of an ambush but they fight bravely and you can feel the sound of bloody blades breaking bones and skulls. At last the warrior and the lady escape and find a shelter in the wood on a near hill...

Next comes the suggestive "Mendicanti luridi" (Dirty beggars) that blends oriental influences and more aggressive parts. The music and lyrics depict dark shadows moving around in the wood under the mocking gaze of merciless gods sitting on their throne high in the sky. For them, men and women are nothing but grey pawns in a court game... So, the warrior and the Lady fall in love with each other, like Lancelot and Guinevere, and eventually the razor of desire tears apart the veil of hypocrisy that ties the lovers to the king's will... The following "Eterea fusione" (Ethereal fusion) marks the final pace of the betrayal evoking sounds of infinite colours that fill the silence and kill the fears. The shadows get blurred in the light while a warm hug becomes a shelter against the adversities and two breathing bodies slowly merge...

 

"Urlanti demoni" (Screaming demons) depicts in music and lyrics the vengeance of the king. To avoid scandal, he asks a powerful witch, a janara, to perform a terrible spell: the warrior is transformed into an invisible ghost and condemned to walk on the city walls for the eternity while the Lady is condemned to die and born again forever, living thousands miserable, short lives, perpetually humiliated under the gaze of her invisible lover, a man that she can't remember and can't see anymore...

"Vita sospesa" (Suspended life) is a tense track that tells about the effects of the vendetta. Nonetheless spells are not always perfect and the warrior, after centuries of desperate, vain walks on the city walls, eventually breaks the perfidious enchantment. In some way, the warrior manages to write on a very thin paper that the Lady reads: the words give back to her the memory of his lover ad they're free, at least for a moment...

The band with Lino Vairetti from Osanna

The following "Ombra di falce" (Sickle shadow) depicts in music and words the last fight between the unfortunate lovers and the wicked witch. In fact, the powerful janara is still alive and determined to carry out her terrible duty... You can see a thundering vortex of black clouds and imagine a conclusion where jealousy and hate are just two sides of the same coin... Then the delicate, dreamy instrumental closer "Finale" concludes the tale.

On the whole, a very good work full of melody and energy, bright colours and dark passages, poetry and magic... Have a try!

More info:

http://labottegadeltempoavapore.it/ 

https://www.facebook.com/La-Bottega-del-Tempo-a-Vapore-930301933680232/ 

THE PERFECT FLIGHT

Algebra are an Italian prog band from Benevento that was formed in early eighties on the initiative of keyboardist Rino Pastore and drummer Salvatore Silvestri. Well, this band is not one of the most prolific ones.... After a debut album in 1994, “Storia di un Iceberg”, in 2009 they released this second work for the independent label AMS/BTF, “JL”, inspired by Richard Bach’s book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”. The current line-up features Mario Giammetti (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass), Rino Pastore (keyboards), Roberto Polcino (keyboards, accordion), Francesco Ciani (drums, acoustic and electronic percussion) and Maria Giammetti (alto and soprano sax, flute). In studio they were helped by some prestigious guest musicians such as, among others, Steve and John Hackett, Aldo Tagliapietra, Lino Vairetti and Goran Kuzminac that helped enrich the sound. Algebra are great fans of Genesis, but the music on this work is definitely less derivative than on their previous one. It’s conceived as a long suite and features some really good melodic, emotional passages...

It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea... The opener “Il molo deserto” (The deserted pier) begins softly, two flutes wake up, then an electric guitar solo (played by Steve Hackett) soars like a flight of seagulls... On the next track the vocals of Aldo Tagliapietra, on a calm background, draw the image of a solitary gull, which doesn’t care for food like the others... “His name is Jonathan and he loves flying / He flies far away / To lightly touch new horizons...”.

Next comes “Il volo perfetto” (The perfect flight) where the emotional vocals of Osanna’s leader Lino Vairetti describe Jonathan’s practice until the notes of a sax solo lead to the light, delicate instrumental “Aria nuova” (New air). We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!

“La gogna” (Stand to Center) describes the reaction of the flock against the strange attitude of Jonathan. “Jonathan Livingston Seagull! Stand to Center!” The Elder’s words sounded in a voice of highest ceremony... “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, said the Elder, “Stand to Center for Shame in the sight of your fellow gulls!”... “For his reckless irresponsibility”, the solemn voice intoned, “violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family...”. The solemn threatening voice of the Elder and the puzzled voice of Jonathan are interpreted by Rino Pastore and Mario Giammetti with passion, then a delicate flute passage leads to another beautiful instrumental “I gabbiani non volano al buio” (Seagulls never fly in the dark). Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons why a gull’s life is short, and with this gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.

“Un’altra dimensione” (A new perspective) opens with a delicate organ sound, then synthesizers and an electric guitar solo introduce the voice of Goran Kuzminac who sings describing the meeting between Jonathan and two radiant gulls that show him the way to higher knowledge... “Come with us they said to him / One school is finished, and the time has come for another to begin / And they disappeared together into the night...”. Well, Goran Kuzminac is one of my favourite Italian singer songwriters and it was a true pleasure for me to listen to his contribution on this album!

Next comes “Al naufragio del mio sogno” (The shipwrecked dream) that features the operatic vocals of Gianfranco Casiero soaring from a dreamy atmosphere and melts into the exotic percussive pattern of the short instrumental “Un battito d’ali” (A single beat of wings)... “I’m still alive / In the caresses of every wind breath...”. So this is heaven, he thought, and he had to smile at himself. It was hardly respectful to analyze heaven in the very moment that one flies up to enter it.

On “Ciang” (Chiang) the intense voice of Italian rocker Graziano Romani describes a new leg of Jonathan’s path to perfection and the meeting with the Elder Gull Chiang... “I am Chiang and I am the Elder Gull / I am here to teach you to fly / You will go to heaven / When you reach the perfect speed...”. “We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome... Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect!”.

“Il fattore tempo” (Working in time) is a beautiful jazzy instrumental where Maria Giammetti’s saxophone evolves upon a background of counter-bass and piano. “Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly. Remember Jonathan, heaven isn’t a place or a time, because place and time are so very meaningless...”. The following track, “Il richiamo” (The callback), is about Jonathan’s need to come back to his old flock to show other young seagulls what he has learned and to teach them how to fly... Hope and nostalgia mixed together in a delicate ballad with a beautiful finale where sax and electric guitar take the lead.

On “Fletcher” the lyrics describe the meeting between Jonathan and his new student, Fletcher. New sensations and feelings, new theses overcoming old rules while exotic notes of saxophone lead to the delicate instrumental “Soffi da Oriente” (Gusts from the East)...

“Un’infinita idea di libertà” (An unlimited idea of freedom) is another excellent instrumental, joyful and relaxed at the same time, while the following “Ritorno allo stormo” (Back to the flock) begins in a more elaborate, dramatic way... “Break the chains / They keep the thoughts in prison / Then the body will be free too...”.

Algebra 2004

“Presa di coscienza” (Awareness) is beautiful piece about hope... It tells of the meeting between Jonathan and a gull with a broken wing, Maynard... “If you want to fly / Open your wings / And take it easy...”. And Maynard, the injured gull took off towards the sky, in the wind! “Nel vento della grande montagna” (In the Great Mountain wind) is another short instrumental that slightly reminds me of Le Orme’s “Aliante” and features John Hackett on flute.

You need to keep finding yourself, a little more each day, that real, unlimited Fletcher Seagull. He’s your instructor... A moment later Jonathan’s body wavered in the air, shimmering, and began to become transparent... “L’addio” (Goodbye) and the following complex instrumental final act “Atto finale” are a perfect epilogue for a very good album that could give you the chance to rediscover an amazing book...

 From Rock Progressivo Italiano: An introduction to Italian Progressive Rock

FROM CAMPANIA...

La Rua Catalana, is a young band from Benevento that began life in 2009. The current line up features Leonardo De Stasio (vocals, guitars), Corrado Ciervo (violin, viola, guitars, backing vocals), Daniele Pescatore (keyboards, synth, backing vocals), Vittorio Coviello (flute, backing vocals), Daniele De Lorenzo (bass) and Marco Coviello (drums, percussion, didgeridoo).

La Rua Catalana 2012

In 2011 they released an eponymous début Ep featuring five interesting tracks drawing from a wide range of influences. The overall sound is a beautiful mix of Mediterranean colours, Latin atmospheres, folk, jazz, progressive and Italian melody.

 

In 2012 the band released “Something new”, a second EP with a slightly different sound. They chose to sing in English and in my opinion it's a real pity because they seem more at ease when singing in their native language. Although there are still many original elements in their music, The Beatles here are one of the main sources of inspiration and for the first track they even shot a video with a strong vintage flavour. 

Anyway the EP is really worth listening to and I'm looking forward to their first full length album.

More info:

http://www.laruacatalana.it/ 

https://www.facebook.com/laruacatalana

SONGS FROM A MIRROR

Notturno Concertante began life in Benevento in the eighties on the initiative of Lucio Lazzaruolo and Raffaele Villanova. Their debut album, The Hiding Place, was released in 1989, influenced by bands such as Genesis and Marillion. It was followed by Erewhon (1993), News From Nowhere (1994) and The Glass Tear (1994). After a long hiatus and some line up changes, in 2002 they released Riscrivere il passato (Re-writing the past) and after another long period and many years of work, in 2012 they finally released a new album, Canzoni allo specchio (Songs in the mirror), in my opinion their best so far. The line up on their last work features Lucio Lazzaruolo (classical guitar, keyboards), Raffaele Villanova (guitars, vocals), Giuseppe Relmi (lead vocals), Carmine Marra (sax, clarinet, whistles), Carmine Meluccio (violin), Gabriele Moscaritolo (accordion), Antonio D’Alessio (bass), Giuseppe D’Alessio (bass) and Simone Pizza (drums).



Notturno Concertante



The overall sound of the band is more original, personal if compared with the neo-prog of their early works and features many Mediterranean colours and psychedelic touches. The packaging is very rich and features the art-work of Fabio Mingarelli a.k.a. Ming, a booklet with the lyrics and the liner notes written by the Italian critic Donato Zoppo (with an English translation) and many pictures.

The opener “Ahmed l’ambulante” (Ahmed the hawker) is a kind of acoustic psychedelic trip in a cold winter night, a bad trip. It was inspired by a poem by Stefano Benni describing in a surreal way the death of an African hawker, a “vu cumprà”. It happened in the middle of the night under a desert arcade in an Italian city when a bunch of hooligans smashed his merchandise and hit him in the head with a stick, just for fun. Ahmed died but the goddess of the night came down to take his spirit back home... “Ashiwa, the goddess of the night came to set me free / She kissed my temples and healed my wounds / They didn’t see her / I didn’t die in a canvas bag but on a big pyre of ebony in the heart of the forest / And my people sung for forty nights...”. This is a really good track but Notturno Concertante were not the first band who interpreted Stefano Benni’s verses: in 1994 the Modena City Ramblers recorded another excellent song inspired by this poem on their debut album Riportando tutto a casa.

Next comes “Young Man Gone West”, more relaxed and lighter. It’s an instrumental track featuring violin and whistles in the forefront that drives you from East to West in a musical journey full of colourful nuances. According to the liner notes, this piece is dedicated to five young Kurdish migrants who died during their journey to Western Europe and whose corpses were found near Grottaminarda, not far from Naples. It leads to the dreamy, melodic “Come il vento” (Like the wind) that was inspired by a reflection about the charming, seductive power of words. The lyrics describe the feelings of a man who can hear the words of his lover echoing in his head in a starry night. The words are like a raging river that could submerge him... “Speak to me / Whisper to me / Mumble in my ear / Like the wind...”.

“Le anime belle” (The beautiful souls) is another beautiful, dreamy ballad. It’s a piece dedicated to all the daydreamers who keep on fighting against the windmills in name of their ideals. “The daydreamers are volunteers in a war that they want to lose...”. According to the liner notes this song was written to honour the memory of the late Antonio D’Alessio, bassist of the band who died in 2008.

“On Growing Older” is a short acoustic instrumental track built upon a nice guitar arpeggio. It leads to “The Price Of Experience”, a piece sung in English that recalls the neo-prog sound of the early works of the band (you can find a first version of this song on the album The Glass Tear from 1994). The lyrics evoke hopes sacrificed to the needs of the daily life... “All at once everything seemed to loose its magic and everything was so hard to bear / Someone said this is the price of experience, but I felt like I just had enough / When did I become another house with no door? / When every distance seemed to break my heart...”.

“Lei vede rosso” (She sees red) is a melancholic track featuring a nice sax work. The lyrics describe a woman on the verge of madness, everybody knows her but how can people really understand what’s going on in her mind? She keeps on staring at the washing-machine and can’t see nothing but blood, the blood of her lover who died in a car accident... “A veil falls behind her eyes / Your world becomes completely red...”.

“La milonga di Milingo” (Milingo’s milonga) is a nice instrumental featuring warm, sensual Latin American influences. The title is a kind a “calambour” (a pun) that combines the words Milonga (a South American dance) and Milingo, a criticized former Roman Catholic archbishop. It leads to another track full of sensuality, introduced by a saxophone solo, “Canzone allo specchio” (Song in the mirror). It’s a love song that starts from an image in the mirror which push a man to reflect about his errors... “You know there is nothing to say / Silence speaks for us today / I just remember that I was lost / And you found me...”. The romantic, short instrumental for classical guitar and piano “Ark En Ciel” (Rainbow) concludes the album

On the whole “Canzoni allo specchio” is a very nice work. I suggest to listen to it in streaming from the official website... Judge by yourselves!

Click HERE

More info:

http://www.notturnoconcertante.it/

http://www.myspace.com/notturnoconcertante

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Notturno-Concertante/169883334005 

CAMPANIA

And now we head south west, to CAMPANIA and its volcanic capital, NAPLES. The Music of Naples is famous all over the world, especially the Canzone Napoletana that has become a true genre of melodic song in itself. The city gave us prog artists and bands such as Cervello, Città Frontale, Uno, Nova, Fabio Celi e gli Infermieri, Gigi Pascal e la Pop Compagnia Meccanica, Luciano Cilio and Saint Just. Saint Just’s former member Jenny Sorrenti (Official Website) is still active and is trying to revive the band under the name Saint Just Again (MySpace). Other Saint Just former members Tito Rinesi (MySpace) and Toni Verde (MySpace) are active too as solo artists. In particular, Toni Verde is behind a new project that should be of interest to prog lovers, a rock opera called L’arca di giada. The debut show was scheduled in Rome on December 2, 2010. Jenny’s brother Alan Sorrenti (Official Website) is still active too but now he’s far from prog and he’s best known for his works as a pop singer.

The best known historic prog band from Naples are Osanna (Official Website), formed in the early seventies and still active with a renewed line-up led by founder member Lino Vairetti and in perfect shape on stage. In 2009 they released a new album, Prog Family featuring new arrangements of their old pieces with the help of David Jackson from Van Der Graaf Generator who appears as a special guest. Another Osanna former member, bassist Lello Brandi (MySpace) recently released an album featuring some blues oriented new tracks and some old Osanna pieces revisited.

Other Neapolitan bands from the seventies still active today are Il Balletto di Bronzo (MySpace), with a new line-up featuring their old keyboardist Gianni Leone, and Napoli Centrale, the band led by saxophonist James Senese (MySpace). By the way, for a short period the line-up of Napoli Centrale featured on bass Pino Daniele who is now one of the most famous Neapolitan artists.

The contemporary scene from Naples also features some very interesting new bands such as I Pennelli di Vermeer (MySpace), a band formed in 2003. All the members of the band were fond of painting, so they decided to call their project “I Pennlli di Vermeer” (that means Vermeer’s Brushes) in honour of the Dutch painter Vermeer (1632-1675). This passion for painting can also be found in their music, a wonderful patchwork of different influences and styles ranging from symphonic rock to ska, tango, baroque and nursery rhymes. La primavera dei sordi (The springtime of the deaf), their first full length album was released in 2008 on the independent label La Canzonetta and the result is excellent: the ten tracks were composed mixing together different colours like in painting, combining shadows and light with sarcasm and irony. The lyrics are full of double meanings and are often sung in a very particular, theatrical way.

Other interesting modern bands that deserve mentioning here are the aggressive Gecko’s Tear (MySpace), the Mediterranean flavoured Malaavia (MySpace), the symphonic Grimalkin (MySpace) and the excellent prog folk project of guitarist and composer Riccardo Prencipe called Corde Oblique (MySpace). Naples also gave us a metal influenced band called Presence and their vocalist and solo artist Sophya Baccini (MySpace). In 2009 Sophya Baccini released her first solo album, Aradia, featuring a long suite about the friendship between two women, Aradia and Elide, and its importance for the way of life and full self realisation of the protagonist Aradia.

 

Among the local emerging bands which also deserve a mention are Controtempo (MySpace), Gorgeous (MySpace), Zion (MySpace), Barnum's Freak (Facebook), Zed e i Bolidi Lenti (Facebook), the neo-prog VisionAir (MySpace), the jazz-rock Amigdala (Reverbnation) and the excellent folk jazz Slivovitz (MySpace) who in 2009 released a very good album on the American label MoonJune Records, Hubris. The nearby town of Marigliano is home to the metal influenced Nuova Ipotesi (MySpace), featuring female vocals and a lot of energy.

Heading south along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast we pass through the beautiful Amalfi Coast to reach our next stop, SALERNO, where we can listen to the solo project of Marco Grieco called Macromarco (MySpace) and to some emerging prog bands such as Goyah (MySpace), Camera Chiara (MySpace), Connie e le Visioni Sonore (Facebook) and another band called Lothlorien (MySpace) to not be confused with the band of the same name based in the Marche. In the surroundings we also find bands such as Indagini su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto (MySpace) and Borgo Antico Resurrection (Facebook), from Angri,  Mobius Project (Facebook), from Sapri and Magni Animi Viri (MySpace), from Battipaglia. 

Heading north we go now to AVELLINO, in an area called Irpinia. Prog artists and bands such as Notturno Concertante (MySpace), Guernica (MySpace), Locus Amoenus (Facebook) and Oderigi Lusi (MySpace) come from here. For the next stage of our journey we head north west, to CASERTA, best known for its Royal Palace. Here we can listen to the psychedelic Psychopathic Romantics (MySpace) and to a young prog band called Agasias (MySpace) while the nearby town of Capua is home to another young emerging prog band called Dama del Lago (MySpace) that after a period of hard studio work managed to record an interesting debut album called “Echi d’acqua” (Echoes of water) under Creative Commons licence.

Heading east, we conclude our visit to Campania in BENEVENTO where we can listen to prog bands such as Algebra (MySpace), La Bottega del Tempo a Vapore (Facebook), The Echos (Reverbnation), Oniric (MySpace), La Rua Catalana (MySpace) and Potsdamer Platz (MySpace) and to the Mediterranean prog fusion of guitarist Gio’ Gentile (MySpace). Here there are also based the folk rock oriented Sancto Ianne (MySpace) and Enrico Falbo (MySpace), a multi-instrumentalist who recently released a debut self-produced solo album inspired by “elfish landscapes”, Canti Silvani, that should be of some interest to folk prog lovers. Enrico Falbo is also a member of a post rock band called Il Cielo di Bagdad (MySpace).