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/

SONGS FROM THE SWAMP

Gruppo Palude took form in 2012 in Merone, a small town of the province of Como, and, according to the band, their name refers to a swamp on the banks of the Lake of Pusiano. After a first immature demo in 2016, in 2021 they released an interesting debut album, entitled Arché, on the independent FIL1933 label with a line up featuring Ruben Nese (guitar, synth), Angelo Panichella (guitar), Michele Ripamonti (bass), Riccardo Zerboni (drums) and Tommaso Severgnini (vocals, flute). It’s a concept album dealing with an inner journey, the search for a lost ego to overcome a personal crises and find new energies. The overall sound draws on many different influences, from seventies prog and hard rock to metal and even rap... 

 

 

The opener “Mayday” starts by a sound of hooters in the background and a first part describing a disquieting inner silence where even a simple hiss could be deranging. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, comes a desperate call for help as the protagonist feels like a passenger on a sinking ship in the middle of a raging sea. When the alarm is over and the calm comes back nothing is the same...

“Stop. Go!” begins softly but after a while the rage explodes. It is difficult for the protagonist to stand still wearing a mask of apparent calm when he’s deeply troubled and overwhelmed by his inner crises. He’s put into check and can’t get out of it, he’s getting mad in a crescendo of stop and go... 

Gruppo Palude 2020

 

“Pillola azzurra” (Blue pill) tells in music and words of the deep sense of bewilderment of the protagonist who’s losing himself in a vortex of contrasting feelings and sensations while the following “Il canto delle sirene” (The song of the sirens) describes a nightmarish night where all the senses of the protagonist are in fire and every chance of help sounds deceitful like the old charming songs of the sirens...

Next comes “Prosopopea” (Prosopopoeia) whose title refers to a rhetorical device in which a speaker or writer communicates to the audience by speaking as another person or object. It’s a reflective, melancholic track that describes a feeling of helpless dizziness with the protagonist sinking to the bottom of a dark, inner sea, lost in the breaths and glances of lovely people who seem to ignore even his presence...

“Il guerriero” (The warrior) describes the protagonist observing from the outside his life crumbling like a castle. He’s in an ethereal state between fear and resentment, he can’t understand any more what is flesh and what is stone, he can’t say if there’s a winner behind this loss and if he will rise again from the ruins of his life. He feels like a warrior who, in time of peace, lashes out at himself...

The following “Nostalgia” conjures up the image of a broken mirror reflecting the face of the protagonist. Selfishness took its share and now what’s left is a deep sense of solitude. He feels something inside him that is feeding on his feeble heartbeats, the memory of fragile dreams and a wistful affection for the past...

“Hey Man” welcomes a new awareness, what’s reflected in the mirror is not a monster and the protagonist finally recognizes his own face. He would like to fly like Icarus, but not too high to avoid the fall... Now he can come out of the darkness where he felt safe and look again at the colours of life...

The following “Piangere da soli” (Crying alone) marks a step forward, beyond good and evil the protagonist now looks up and accepts his reality, breaking his inner chains... Then, “Ora e qui” (Now and here) ends the album with a positive mood and a heartfelt call for freedom.

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

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/GruppoPalude/ 

FROM THE BEGINNING

 Chaptersend is the fourth studio album by Mogador, an interesting prog band from Como, Lombardy. It was released in 2017 with a renewed line up featuring Richard George Allen (drums, vocals, percussion), Luca Briccola (guitars, keyboards, bass, flute, backing vocals), Salvatore Battello (bass, guitars, backing vocals), Samuele Dotti (keyboards, backing vocals) and Marco Terzaghi (vocals) plus some guests such as Jon Davison (vocals), Ida Di Vita (violin) and Elisa Salvaterra (flute). According to the liner notes in the booklet, this work represents a sort of end and beginning at the same time. The band evolved from a simple studio project to a real band playing live on stage and took the chance to refresh their early repertoire reshaping in an effective way same old pieces... 

 

 

 

The lively opener “Summer Sun” is a celebration of the sun and of its sparkling force in a summer day. The music every now and again could recall PFM while the lyrics are taken from a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson of the same title included in the 1885 collection “A Children’s Garden of Verses”. 

 

Next comes the powerful “The Escapologist”, a beautiful piece inspired by the life and death of Harry Houdini (1874 – 1926), a world-wide famous Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist and stunt performer. For a trick of the fate, the death-defying man of mystery who performed at least three variations on a buried alive stunt during his career eventually ends up in a box from where there’s no way to come out... His coffin! 

 

 

“Deep Blue Steps” is beautiful track that tells of a suggestive descent into the subconscious and of desires you can’t control. It’s linked to the following “Still Alone”, a new interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Alone”, where the poet describes the tragedy of not being part of the crowd. This new version is very different from the one from their previous album Absinthe Tales Of Romantic Visions, more complex and refined... 

 

“Josephine’s Regrets” features the backing vocals of the guest Jon Davison and is a lovely emotional portrait in music and words of Napoleon’s wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, a patron of arts whose Château_de_Malmaison was best known for its rose garden, which she supervised closely... 

 

Mogador 2019

 

“Breaking Day” is a colourful musical tableau where the music and words depict a hill landscape before the storm. It leads to the dramatic “Gentleman John”, a piece dedicated to the memory of Anthony John Morgan (1959 – 2000), an English writer and expert on etiquette best remembered for his column in London based daily newspaper The Times... 

 

The new version of “Tell Me Smiling Child”, a folksy ballad with lyrics taken from a poem by Emily Brontë, introduces the long, complex “Fundamental Elements Suite”, divided into five parts: The Tide’s Undertow, The Salamander, Floating In The Void, Mammon’s Greed: Eternity’s Gift and Mammon’s Greed: Infinity’s Price. The band here deconstructed and rebuilt some pieces from their 2009 debut eponymous album giving them a more coherent, convincing form. The music and lyrics deal with environmental issues, passions, fears, greediness, freedom, respect for Mother Nature... A great finale! 

 

On the whole, an accomplished and mature work from a band that deserve credit! 

 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

 

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/MogadorProg/ 

THE GREEN MUSE

Mogador's third album, “Absinthe Tales Of Romantic Visions”, was self-released in 2012 with a renewed line up featuring Richard George Allen (drums, percussion, vocals), Luca Briccola (guitars, keyboards, bass, flute, backing vocals) and Marco Terzaghi (vocals) plus some guests. It's a kind of concept album dedicated to some Romantic artists, painters and poets, who in some way drew their inspiration from absinthe, an anise-flavoured spirit with a natural green colour. In my opinion, the result is pretty good! The band confirm here all the good promises of their first two albums and if you like bands such as Genesis, Gentle Giant or Yes I'm sure you'll find this work very interesting.

Mogador 2013

The opener “Whispers To The Moon” is a beautiful instrumental piece that was inspired by Two Men Contemplating The Moon, a 1819 painting by German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. It begins softly, with a delicate piano pattern and the atmosphere is dreamy. It fades into “Dreamland”, a piece in the same mood where the band interpret a poem by Christina Rossetti... “Where sunless rivers weep their waves into the deep / She sleeps a charmed sleep: awake her not / Led by a single star, she came from very far / To seek where shadows are her pleasant lot...”.

C.S. Friedrich, Two Men Contemplating The Moon, 1819

The following “She Sat And Sang” is taken from another poem by Christina Rossetti and features two special guests: singer-songwriter Agnes Milewski (female vocals) and Filippo Pedretti (violin). It's a beautiful acoustic ballad that could recall bands such the Pentangle or Renaissance... “I wept for memory / She sang for hope that is so fair / My tears were swallowed by the sea / Her songs died in the wind...”.

“We Never Said Farewell” is a short, “gentle” track featuring lyrics taken from a poem by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge... “Two islands that the roaring sea divide / Are not more far apart...”. The following piece “Where Were Ye All?” recalls Yes and features lyrics taken from a poem by Emily Bronte drenched in dark nostalgia... “O come with me thus ran the song / The moon is bright in Autumn's sky / And thou hast toiled and laboured long / With aching head and weary eye...”.

C.J. Vernet: The Shipwreck, 1772

“Hardships” is my favourite track on this album. It was inspired by a 1772 painting by Claude Joseph Vernet called The Shipwreck. In my opinion here the band managed to capture the spirit of the evocative, powerful images in music and words in an excellent way – by the way, this track features original lyrics written by Richard Allen – and I'm sure that lovers of Yes and Gentle Giant will appreciate it... “Pray for the men who dared to dream / Shed no tears, the sea washed them clean / Say to those men, that you shared their dream / They paid so dear, right or wrong as it seems...”.

“Incantation Of The Muse” is short instrumental track for that leads to “The Sick Rose”, another nice short track featuring lyrics taken from a poem by William Blake and interpreted by the guest vocalist Jon Davison... “O Rose thou art sick / The invisible worm / That flies in the night / In the howling storm / Has found out thy bed / Of crimson joy / And his dark secret love / Does thy life destroy...”.

The introspective “Alone” is taken from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe and features the guest Gabriele Bernasconi on vocals. Another Italian prog band, Goad, took inspiration from the same poem and it could be interesting compare the two different versions. Well, Mogador's version is in some way more solemn and brighter but I like both versions and, of course, the poetry that inspired them.

The dark, tense “Song Of Saul Before His Last Battle” is taken from a poem by Lord Byron. It's a beautiful piece full of obscure energy... “Farewell to others, but never we part / Heir to my royalty, son of my heart! / Bright is the diadem, boundless the sway / Or kingly the death, which awaits us to-day!”. Then comes the short, melancholic “Le Poison”, taken from a poem by Charles Baudelaire featuring recitative French vocals provided by the guest Curzio Galante.

Learn how to put a song on itunes at ReverbNation.com

The long, complex “Prometheus” is another excellent piece featuring lyrics taken from an epic poem by Lord Byron. The poem is about Prometheus, a famous mythological character of the Ancient Greek, the titan who brought fire to men and was condemned by Zeus to be eternally chained to a rock having his liver eaten daily by an eagle. For Romantic artists, such as Byron, Prometheus represented the rebel who resisted all forms of institutional tyranny and here the band give life to the myth in a convincing way with an amazing suite rich in ideas and full of fiery energy... “Titan! To thee the strife was given / Between the suffering and the will / Which torture where they cannot kill...”. A short bonus track, “Absinthe Rag”, a joyful instrumental piece for piano solo, concludes an album that in my opinion is really worth listening to.

More info:

http://www.mogadormusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/mogador
http://www.reverbnation.com/mogador

http://it-it.facebook.com/pages/Mogador/165764906734

TIES AND LIFTS

Mogador began life in 2007 on the Lake Como on the initiative of Richard George Allen (drums, vocals). The first line up was completed by Luca Briccola (piano, keyboards, guitar, flute), Stefano Lago (guitars) and Paolo Pigni (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals). The musicians started to rehearse in a tie factory and named their band Mogador, as the ancient name of the Moroccan port of Essaouira that gave its name to a tie cloth that is a mix of silk and cotton. According to their website the same idea of mixing is reflected in the influences on Mogador’s style since the individual members of the band enjoy all kinds of music from progressive rock to folk, from fusion to classical.

In 2009 they released a first interesting self produced eponymous album, a kind of conceptual work inspired by the four elements that was recorded in a non professional home-studio. The lyrics are in English and the overall sound of the album recalls the early Genesis... Well, despite the poor recording means the result is not bad at all.

There is a short opener that sets the atmosphere and introduces the subject matter with narrative vocals, “Ab imis fundamenti”. It leads to “The Salamander”, a track inspired by fire, the fire of passion... “There’s a fire that I burn / When I desire, when I yearn...”. The second track, “The Tide’s Undertow” was inspired by water and deals with some environmental issues, exalting water for the dangerous strength of its rage and its priceless value for life... “We all can feel water’s primal force / And one day she’ll call us all back out sea / We all exist in the dread and the fear / That one day we’ll live the tide’s undertow...”. Then comes “Tell Me Smiling Child”, one of the two tracks with no relation with the elements of the concept. It’s a short piece for piano and voice featuring lyrics taken from a poem by Emily Brontë...

“Mammon’s Greed” was inspired by earth and takes us back to the concept and its pastoral mood... “Take courage dear friends and we’ll find the way / Hope never ends to see that perfect day / When Earth and Man live as one...”. Next comes the other track non related to the elements, the short acoustic guitar driven “Solitary Bench – An Alchemy”, my favourite on this work... “There is a place that nobody knows / Where I sit alone on a solitary bench... Like a grain of sand changes into a pearl / I change too... Like an alchemist I turn my lead into gold...”. “Floating In The Void”, the piece inspired by air, and the instrumental symphonic outro “Omnia mutantur, nihil interit” conclude the album. By the way, the beautiful art cover reproduces a painting by Johan Christian Dahl titled “Vesuvius Erupting” where you can see all the elements. In my opinion this tableau depicts in some way the content of the music as well...

You can listen to the complete album HERE

* * *

Soon after the release of Mogador’s first album, Stefano Lago left the band while the other members started to work on another conceptual work. According to the band, Richard read the story of a man who got trapped in a lift in a newspaper and it struck him as a viable vehicle for a narrative album, the other two agreed and set about writing the music. The result is another self produced work, “All I Am Is Of My Own MaKing”, featuring an improved recording quality and an overall sound that could recall bands such as The Flower Kings and Spock’s Beard.

The opener “Unexpectedly, Friday” sets the atmosphere. It is just like any other Friday evening, the weekend beckons and the protagonist of the story is ready to enjoy its delights. But he forgets his keys in the office and has to go back... “I should have taken the stairs but I saw that open door / As I rose the lift shut down, a sudden halt / Unexpected dark and silence / Unwelcome dark and suspense / Took me by surprise...”. The man shouts, asks for help...

“Deep In Trouble Deep” is darker and more aggressive. While Richard George Allen interprets the protagonist of the story Paolo Pigni interprets the narrator and in this piece he takes the lead... “He was the last one out of the door / Trapped in a lift, it was trouble for sure... Hitting wildly in all his rage / To try to break free from this steel cage... So you thought life was so good? / And you said I want everything now / But look now, my young friend, where are you? / Deep in trouble deep...”.

“Panic!” is a beautiful instrumental track featuring many changes in rhythm and mood that describes the feelings of the protagonist when he realises there’s no one to help him...

The next track, “So Cold”, is calmer and begins with an acoustic guitar pattern. The voice of the protagonist comes back... “Panic gave way to reason / As I slid on the floor / At times like these I thought intelligence would pay / But thinking very calmly made it all seem worse... It’s cold, I’m cold / Help me someone...”.

“One Day” begins with a piano solo pattern and marks the lowest ebb of the story for the protagonist. On the first part we can listen to the voice of the narrator. The protagonist finds a gentle peace while his hope slips away and fear gives way to peace. The second part of the track features a church-like atmosphere and great harmony vocals... “We know that one day / We will all fall to sleep... If we have lived in full virtuous and true / Who knows, death may be a blessed relief...”.



Mogador 2010

“Sweet Liberty” is lighter and begins with a delicate acoustic guitar arpeggio, then the rhythm section and the keyboards come in. The protagonist is saved by a rescue team, at first he thinks that the voices of his saviours are nothing but a dream then he can see the light again... “In a moment I was free... In a moment I could see... Finally unbound, all the world was there for me / Thanking endlessly / Oh sweet, sweet liberty...”. Tubular bells announce the end of the dark.

“Homely Smells Again” tells what happens later the same day... “They provided a car to take him home... He turned the key of the door... / He headed for the bed, to rest his head / Finally homely smells again...”. But this is not the end of the story and this is a complex track. The protagonist is woken by the sound of the telephone. A lawyer calls him and insists that he needs assistance... “We met later that week / There were damages to seek / A six or seven figure sum for a life undone...”. The protagonist returns to work two weeks later but when he places the damage claim on his boss’s desk he’s fired... “I was called in by the boss again / And told to return at home / This time I took the stairs...”.

“A New Beginning” is a reflective track that marks the end of the story and the definitive change in the attitude of the protagonist. The protagonist suits his former employer in court under the media’s attention but he loses the case and can’t find another job... “Now I’m living in a different place / Right and wrong are in their place / I take each day as a new beginning / The rising sun brightens the way / Ends the darkness, leads the way...”.

“All I Am Is Of My Own MaKing” begins with a marry piano pattern and draws the moral of the story: never surrender! The music could recall the Beatles and the sax played by the guest Marco “Plumber” Bonetti enriches the sound of this piece... “There are times when you feel sad and very lonely / And the world looks grey and grim / Don’t surrender, face the fight...”. Voices and sounds coming from the country conclude this work as a ghost track.

Well, all in all I think this is an interesting story and a very good work. You can listen to the coplete album HERE

Read the interview with the band on Progarchives. Click HERE

Mogador: All I Am Is Of My Own MaKing (2010). Other opinions:

Brian Block: Mogador, first off, is a fantastic band that is capable of playing many styles within both the prog and rock spectrum... Another good thing about this album is the variety of instruments played here. Not only are there guitars and a bass, but there's also very nice orchestration and the addition of a flute on some songs... Overall I really enjoyed this album, and I'm sure many other prog fans will too. Featuring great musicianship from everyone involved this album was great to listen too and had many memorable riffs and choruses... (read the complete review on  seaoftranquillity.org. Click HERE).

Gert Hulshof: Right from the start I was amazed by the sheer beauty of the album... There is no doubt in my mind that Mogador is a great band, with great musicians. I will keep my eye on them. Refreshing... (read the complete review HERE)

More info: 

http://www.mogadormusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/mogador
http://www.reverbnation.com/mogador

http://it-it.facebook.com/pages/Mogador/165764906734

LOMBARDIA (part 3)

And now let’s visit the other cities of Lombardia. Nearby Milan there’s MONZA, in the Brianza area, best known for hosting every year the Formula 1 Grand Prix. In the seventies E.A.Poe (Facebook) came from here while now it’s the time of Zita Ensemble (MySpace), an instrumental project that blends progressive, jazz and psychedelic influences, of the heavier Dea (Facebook) and of the “Celtic rage” of the folk metal Furor Gallico (Facebook). The nearby town of Meda is home to Forza Elettro Motrice (F.E.M.) (Facebook), a promising emerging band that in 2014 released an interesting full length debut album entitled Sulla bolla di sapone inspired by a science-fiction story by German writer Kurd Lasswitz (1848 – 1910).

About 55 km North-West from Milan lies VARESE, which in the seventies gave us Cincinnato and Hunka Munka. In Varese today we can listen to Court (Official Website), a band formed in 1990 by five skilled young musicians. In 2007 they won the Los Angeles Music Award as the best Alternative Artist with their third album Frost Of Watermelon, released ten years after Court’s previous work. Their “recipe” is tasty and well balanced, the band is not stuck in the past and you can find in this work not only echoes of Genesis and Pink Floyd but also some particular, “grungy” passages.

Other interesting bands from the province of Varese are Ske (MySpace), a side project of Yugen keyboardist Paolo “Ske” Botta” who in 2011 released an album titled 1000 autunni, then Atto IV (ReverbNation), Ego (MySpace), Delta (Official Website), Sirena (MySpace) and a hard-psychedelic band called Emmablu (MySpace). Almost half way between Milan and Varese there’s a little town called Cuggiono, birthplace of the Italian minstrel Angelo Branduardi (Official Website).

About 45 km north of Milan lies COMO, on the western arm of Lake Como. From here there comes the “prog chamber music” of Gatto Marte (Official Website), the symphonic prog of Mogador (Reverbnation) and Sarastro Blake (Facebook), interesting bands with many seventies influences, the folk-prog Trewa (Reverbnation) and the heavier Mysteria Noctis (Facebook). Como is not far from the border between Italy and Switzerland, so I think it’s worth taking the chance to cross the border and go up to LUGANO to find a “non Italian Italianprog band”, Aliperdute. It’s a pity that this band is not active at the moment, but luckily their music is still available in free legal download from the site cantine.org so take your time, relax for awhile, and listen (click here) .

On the other arm of Lake Como lies LECCO, the city where a famous novel by the Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi, is set. In the seventies Lecco gave us the “Christian prog” band Messaggio ‘73 and Biglietto per l’Inferno (Official Website). Biglietto per l’Inferno started their activity in 1972 and, until they split up at the end of 1975, they were a terrific band on stage. In 2007 on the initiative of original members Giuseppe “Pilly” Cossa (piano, accordion) and Mauro Gnecchi (drums, percussion) a new project called Biglietto per l’Inferno.folk was formed for some live performances featuring the old repertoire of the band and in 2009 a new album was released on the independent label BTF featuring new arrangements of the historic pieces, Tra l’assurdo e la ragione.

The original vocalist Claudio Canali retired from ordinary life and today he’s a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict, so the lead vocals are now provided by a female singer, Mariolina Sala. Anyway the old singer gave his blessing to the new project and “Fra’” Claudio appears as a special guest on two tracks of the album. Another original member of the band, Giuseppe “Baffo” Banfi, features as producer and helped the band in studio. I have to say that the new project is excellent, the new arrangements feature folk influences but respect the spirit of the old compositions and the result is a well crafted, balanced mix of fresh sounds and vintage suggestions. As in the past, the concerts are still the band’s pillar of strength and their performances attract many people, so old and young enthusiastic fans are pushing the band to go on. In fact, the new project is not a boring unplugged version of the old band but a lively act still able to stir emotions.

By the way, former bassist of Biglietto per l’Inferno, Fausto Branchini, takes no part in the new project but he has not given up music and is working on a rock opera under the name Fausto Branchini - Biglietto per l’Inferno. Other contemporary prog bands from Lecco, with a heavier sound influenced by metal, are Evil Wings (MySpace) whose vocalist and guitarist features also in the new line-up of Il Biglietto per l’Inferno.folk, Willow (Facebook), Leader Braun (MySpace), Drivhell (MySpace) and Dropshard (Official Website).