IN A STRANGE KINGDOM

Le Porte Non Aperte took form in Florence in 2010 thanks to the initiative of Daniele Cancellara and Jacopo Fallai and their passion for the Italian Progressive Rock of the seventies. After a period dedicated to composition, rehearsals and some concerts on the local scene, in 2013 they released their debut album, entitled Golem, on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records, with a line-up including Sandro Parrinello (vocals, piano, acoustic guitar), Marco Brenzini (flute), Jacopo Fallai (electric guitar), Filippo Mattioli (organ, synth, backing vocals) and Giulio Capitano Sieni (drums, percussion) plus the guests Daniele Cancellara (bass), Maria Paula Calderon (vocals), Saeed Aman (vocals) and Sanaz Partow (vocals). According to the liner notes, it is a conceptual work inspired by the "Imprevedibili" movement, a group of anarchist intellectuals rooted in Tuscany in the 60s and 70s and tells the story of a man who, through an introspective journey, tries to free himself from his own conditioning. The colourful art work by Silvia Brullato try to give a visual form to the musical and lyrical content...

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The album begins with a beautiful solo piano passage and background voices. “Preludio al sogno” (Prelude to the dream) is a just a short instrumental introduction that, according to the liner notes in the booklet, codifies the passage into the dream world of the subconscious and serves as an impromptu prelude to the story. The joyful yet decadent atmosphere depicts a fractured human condition within which the story of the Golem is set...

“Il re del niente” (The king of nothing) introduces us to the story's protagonist, played with remarkable energy and strong theatricality. He is a man who feels like a king, but whose kingdom exists only in his mind. His imposing castle has walls made of wind, his loyal subjects are figments of his imagination, but he still feels like a king, albeit a king of nothing. A king who wanders alone in his gardens, a prisoner of his madness...

“La città delle terrazze” (The city of terraces) describes the surreal landscape of the city where the king of nothing rules. Monuments, shopping malls, a breathtaking view that can be enjoyed from the terraces of the houses. However, the inhabitants have lost their joy in life, suffocated by the cumbersome presence of their lord. There are no riots, but the colours fade, the inhabitants have lost their memory and the ability to laugh at themselves. The atmosphere created by the music and lyrics here is truly sharp and neurotic...

“Binario 8” (Platform 8) depicts a crowded train station where long lines of people can be seen waiting to depart towards the unknown to forget their future. After some hesitation, the protagonist trades his dream for a ticket and dashes through the crowd to find a seat on the departing train. On endless tracks, he is following a mirage in search of new emotions and his reality...

A brief drum solo takes us into the hypnotic atmosphere of the next track, “Il vicolo dei miracoli” (The alley of miracles), which leads into the dark alleys of the mind. A voice reminds the protagonist that unpredictability is what separates man from beasts and machines, and that unpredictability is the path to freedom from the slavery of those who speculate on mass opinion. If statistics are used to make predictions, unpredictability makes them go haywire...

Harsh electric guitar riffs and flute notes over a frenzied rhythm introduce “Rigattiere dei sogni infranti” (Junk dealer of broken dreams), a description of the delirious and visionary encounter between the protagonist and his alter ego. This new character offers illusions in exchange for dreams and demands fragments of dream matter from the protagonist in exchange for freedom. The result is a clash between memory and the consciousness of the ego, resulting in a punishment for disrupting the order of the universe...

Le Porte Non Aperte, 2013

The disquieting short instrumental piece that follows, “Nemesi” (Nemesis), according to the liner notes, describes precisely this punishment. Here the liner notes also cite the Isaac Asimov's novel Nemesis as a source of inspiration...

In the long, complex “Oceano - Nel canto della sirena” (Ocean - In the singing of the mermaid) the protagonist finds himself on a creaking wooden boat, sailing aimlessly on the ocean of memories, filled with regret and melancholy. Lost and confused, always searching for an impossible dream and haunted by a siren song that torments and intoxicates him, forgetting all logic, the protagonist finally finds the strength to scream for his freedom...

The atmosphere in “Giardini di sabbia” (Gardens of sand) becomes calm and relaxed with just piano and flute to back the vocals. The protagonist finally lands on a distant island where he can rest. There, in the sand gardens, dreams are free but the ego must face the solitude of thought. The protagonist feels traversed by emptiness, unable to grasp his dream. He has finally arrived where wings still beat, but the landscape rapidly changes...

The following track is divided into three parts, “Animale del deserto Part I” (Animal of the desert, part I), “La rivolta della tartaruga Elsie” (The revolt of Elsie the tortoise) and “Animale del deserto Part II” (Animal of the desert, part II). The rhythm is tense and nervous as the protagonist finds himself walking and running on sandy paths. All he can see is himself. Time, behind him is smiling. It's a place that, according to the liner notes, is in the meantime ever-changing and contradictory, with a technology that, dominated by man, escapes beyond the limits of emotion. There's room for an encounter with Elsie the turtle, a rarely talkative devourer of light, and amidst contradictions, disjointed conversations, and sudden emergences of the subconscious, the protagonist finally seems to reach the point where he can take off...

Then, the last track, the instrumental “Imprevedibilità” (Unpredictability) describes the protagonist at dawn. He wakes up tiredly and soon discovers that only unpredictability exists...

On the whole, an excellent album, even if the concept might seem a bit convoluted. Anyway, that's exactly what dreams are...

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066665148487#

MOMENTS OF TRANSITION

Merging Cluster took form in Florence in 2010 on the initiative of two former members of Biofonia, Gabriele Marconcini and Emiliano Galli, both in love with modern prog and psychedelia. In 2014 the band managed to release a self produced demo EP with a line up featuring Gabriele Marconcini (vocals), Emiliano Galli (keyboards), Marco Casalini (drums), Gianfilippo Innocenti (guitars) and Roberto Manzani (bass). Then the project went through a long period of hibernation. Ten years after, with the same line up, Merging Cluster woke up and finally released their first official studio album, entitled Peak Of ephemeral Light, on the independent Lizard Records label. It contains the four tracks of the demo EP remixed and remastered and four brand new pieces. According to an interview with the band, it is not a concept album in which a story is told but there are some recurring themes in the various pieces. All of them, in one way or another, tell of the moments of transition that make a person different from what he was before, or from what he believed or hoped he could be... 

 

The opener “Dysrationalia” every now and again could recall Marillion and is a long piece about the difficulty of thinking and behaving rationally when faced with even the most banal facts of life. The music and lyrics invite you to keep your eyes and mind open and vigil so as not to become prisoners of your emotions or victims of the conformism...

The title track, “Peak Of Ephemeral Light”, comes from the old EP. It’s a nice spacey piece that tells about the awareness that a man is nothing if compared to the immensity of the universe. The course of the galaxies in their race to the unknown can’t be reversed and a human being is not immortal, he’s just a kind of peak of energy soon destined to vanish into the void...

“Subjective Doubles Syndrome” is another old track from the 2014 EP. The atmosphere is disquieting and tense as the lyrics describe the feelings of a man on the brim of madness who believes that there’s someone going around with his body and face, someone who is speaking with his voice. In fact, the title refers to a rare delusional misidentification syndrome in which the patient experiences the delusion that he has a double with the same appearance, but usually with different character traits, that is leading a life of its own... 

 

From the 2014 EP is also the introspective, visionary “Gift Undeserved” that begins softly with guitar and bass that could recall Pink Floyd as the music and lyrics take you through fantastic landscapes. According to an interview with Gabriele Marconcini in the magazine Prog Italia, this piece describes states of consciousness suspended between dream and reality and how we do not feel adequate or deserving of what is given to us by chance or by superior forces...

The last track from the 2014 Ep is the beautiful “The Shadow Line”. It was inspired by a novella of the same name by Joseph Conrad that depicts a young man becoming an adult, in particular a young man who boards a ship for the voyage of his life. He will become a captain and the shadow line of the title represents the threshold of this development. The tide is turning, the sea and the sky are changing while the protagonist approaches the line, his eyes are burning. Will his heart keep on pounding when he’ll cross that line? Here the lyrics tell of the moment of transition between two phases of life...

“Planning The Renaissance” is a piece full of positive energy that kicks off with a hard electric guitar riff supported by the hammering rhythm section. It is an urgent request for change in individual and collective consciousness. The vocals express anger and indignation screaming the vital need for a new resolution. How can we plan a rebirth? We should find a way to learn how to create a new light, a new heart and find a new way of living in harmony with mother nature...

 

Merging Cluster 2022

“Land Of The Wait” opens by a delicate piano intro, then the vocals evoke blind days that pass, one the same as the other, leaving behind empty promises and regrets. The atmosphere is melancholic, but then the perspective changes and old memories of seasons full of expectations come to the surface. In fact, this piece tells of the reality that clashes with expectations destined to never materialize and was inspired by another seminal novel, The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati. The novel tells the story of a young officer, Giovanni Drogo, who spent all his life guarding the Bastiani Fortress, a remote stronghold overlooking a desolate desert. He waits for a war in which to obtain power and glory, but the enemy hordes never arrive...

The final track, “Over (You)”, is dark and hypnotic. According to the band the lyrics are hermetic and esoteric but always focused on the experience of the passage. Sometimes we feel a strong sense of loss. Sometimes we lose our battles, sometimes our wars, sometimes we lose our body, sometimes our mind and identity. Then there comes a time when we feel that our future is over and we need a serpent kiss...

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

 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/mergingcluster 

ZERO AND THIRTY

Concerto Zero is a double album by Campo di Marte that was released in 2003 on the independent label Vinyl Magic - Btf with a beautiful packaging and extended liner notes about the history of the band. Soon after 1974 Campo di Marte split up, guitarist Enrico Rosa, main composer and lyricist of the band, left Italy and relocated in Denmark. It wasn’t until 2003 that Campo di Marte came to life again for some concerts in Tuscany and for the recording of this live album with a new line up featuring Enrico Rosa (acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Eva Rosa (recorders, WX5 wind synth), Mauro Sarti (drums), Maurilio Rossi (bass - from Goad) and Alexandr Matin Sass (piano, organ, keyboards).

The first CD contains four tracks taken from a 1972 concert recorded at a venue in Florence, The Space Electronic. According to the liner notes, it was conceived as a demo recording and it’s nothing but a document of the early days of the band, before the release of their eponymous album. Four tracks for little more than half an hour music where you can hear in nuce from the original line up many ideas that will be developed on the debut album. Listening to “Prologo parte 2 (Settimo Tempo)”, “Alba (Secondo Tempo)”, “Epilogo (Quarto Tempo)” and “Prologo parte 1 (Quinto Tempo/Sesto Tempo)” could be interesting for fans of the band but the sound quality is really awful and I fear that all the efforts to recover the music from the original source (an old test pressing LP) were almost pointless...

The second CD was recorded “live in studio” in 2003, a good way to warm up for the concerts of the thirtieth anniversary of the band... Of course, the sound quality is definitely better. “Primo - Settimo Tempo”, a medley from the eponymous album, is a great opener where it can be seen that the magic is not gone even after the long hiatus. Enrico Rosa here shows to be still alive and kicking and the new line up is up to the task... The following “Back In Time” is a dreamy instrumental track with a medieval flavour that could recall The John Renbourn Group. It gives way to “Bluesy Rocky”, where the rhythm rises and the band mix delicate jazzy passages and harder parts with gusto, then it’s the turn of “Italian Irish”, a calm acoustic ballad turning into a kind of tarantella that reminds me slightly of BMS (in particular of Non mi rompete finale).

After three interesting new tracks the old repertoire comes back for the new arrangements of “Secondo Tempo” and “Terzo - Quarto Tempo” with another short new track, “Rock Barock”, that ends the set with a burst of positive energy. A live recording, considered a bonus track, “Outro: July The 12th 2003” closes the second CD.

On the whole, a good appetizer that unfortunately did not lead to the release of a brand new studio album featuring only new original prog stuff from Campo di Marte. But you never know, Enrico Rosa is still active and maybe, if someone asks him, for the fiftieth anniversary of the band...

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.campodimarte.dk/

TURKISH DELIGHT

Campo di Marte was one of the many one-shot bands of the Italian prog scene of the early seventies. It was mainly the brainchild of composer and guitarist Enrico Rosa who gathered around him a bunch of talented and “classical trained” musicians as Alfredo Barducci (horns, piano, organ, vocals), Richard Ursillo aka Paul Richard (bass, vocals), Mauro Sarti (drums, percussion, flute, vocals) and Carlo Felice Marcovecchio (drums, percussion, vocals). They were based in Tuscany and the name of the band was inspired by a suburb of Florence. Campo di Marte means Field Of Mars, and Mars was also the Roman god of war so, according to Enrico Rosa, “the name was used as an excuse to write lyrics on the stupidity of wars, and a picture of Turkish mercenary soldiers stabbing themselves with all kinds of weapons to demonstrate their strength and receive higher wages was chosen for the cover” (Quote from an interview on the site italianprog.com).
 

The original concept was in some way distorted by the label in 1973 and the band had to change the titles and the order of the tracks for commercial reasons. The remastered re-release by AMS Vinyl Magic (BTF) (AMS 101 CD) in 2006 restored the original project and the result is wonderful. The sound quality is excellent and the original project is explained in the booklet through comprehensive liner notes in Italian and in English...

On the restored version, the album opens with the instrumental “V° Tempo” (originally named “Prologo Parte I”) where you can find a pastoral atmosphere that could recall bands as Amazing Blondel and Gryphon. The piece is introduced by acoustic guitar and flute and the mood is peaceful and joyful...

 

 

On the second track “VI° Tempo” (originally named “Prologo Parte II”), the sound of the electric guitar and a heavy marching beat tries to evoke the effects of a marching army with horns and drums “playing war anthems”. Peace is broken and war is raging but on this piece there’s also a short lyrical interlude where dreamy vocals invite you to search for the truth and to give credit to the people... “You will touch with your hands / Days full of sweetness / You will discover in everyone else / Another one like you...”. The “black magic” of war keeps on storming on the third track, the long instrumental “VII° Tempo” (originally named “Prologo Parte III”), where frenzied rhythms and gloomy atmospheres prevail...

The fourth track, “I° Tempo” (originally named “Riflessione Parte I”), begins with the electric guitar in the forefront and heavy rhythms, but after awhile the “storm” gives way to a tense, bitter reflection about the effects of war... “I remember that lawn / Covered with flowers / I was happily running / In the light of the sun... Now I can see that place again / Thousands of crosses / Cover the lawn / Blacken the sun... Unaware men / Get the bones / The only harvest / Of so many crazy sowings...”.

 

“II° Tempo” (originally named “Riflessione Parte II”) is a short, soft and dreamy instrumental that leads to “III° Tempo” (originally named “Epilogo Parte I”), where hope seems to be born again along with vocals soaring upon a delicate piano pattern... People fed up with war are making war against war... “Listen, a scream is rising / Look, the crowd is already moving / They’re calling you...”. The rhythm becomes frenzied again as the revolution starts... The classically inspired organ fugue of “IV° Tempo” (originally named “Epilogo Parte II”) and the final acoustic guitar arpeggio that marks the restored peace concludes a great album...

From the book Rock Progressivo Italiano: an introduction to Italian Progressive Rock

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Campo di Marte: Campo di Marte (1973). Other opinions:
Jim Russell: All in all this is a tasty morsel that is probably essential if you're building an Italian genre collection. For the wider site it's a recommended title for fans of early 70s rock mixing acoustic and electric guitars and flute like Tull... (Read the complete review HERE)

HYPNOS AND THANATOS

Tale Of A Dark Fate is the second album by Florentine band L’Albero del Veleno and confirms all the good qualities of its predecessor from 2013, Le radici del male. It was self-released in 2017 and was distributed by Black Widow Records. The recording sessions were carried out by a slightly renewed line up featuring Nadin Petricelli (keyboards, synth), Claudio Miniati (drums), Lorenzo Picchi (guitars), Michele Andreuccetti (bass) and Marco Brenzini (flute) plus the help of the guests Jacopo Ciani (violin, viola, strings) and Cesare Valentini (choir arrangement). The result of their long, painstaking work is an instrumental album conceived as an opera in two acts inspired by the legend of the venomous tree from which the band took its name. The storyline is simple: a man falls asleep under the tree to never wake up again. Although there are no lyrics nor specific liner notes, the art cover and the drawings you can find in the booklet by Stefano Matteoli give a clue about what the music is about...

The first part of the album, “Act I – Hypnos”, is divided into six parts. It starts with the short “Prelude - The poison tree”, where a nice piano pattern is backed by a threatening rhythm section. In the booklet the image associated with this piece portrays a tree resembling to a Medusa head, with poisonous snakes as branches... It fades out in the first part of Act I, entitled “Morpheus” after the Greek god of dreams, son of Hypnos, god of sleep. Here the influence of Goblin is apparent from the very first bass lines that paint the musical canvas with strong deep red brush strokes...

The music goes on with the dark, threatening atmosphere of “Phobetor”, the personification of nightmares that appeared in dreams in the form of animals or monsters and resided in a part of the underworld. Then the tension eases for a while during the short “Interlude I - Momus” where comes in the personification of satire and mockery. This little scherzo or trick of destiny leads to the disquieting “Phantasos”, named after the God of surreal dreams where, quoting Alexandre Dumas, the breath of death reacts violently against life and darkness kills the light.

The track entitled “Interval” is nothing but fifteen seconds of silence, just a little pause before “Act II – Thanatos”, that is divided into five parts and describes the passage from sleep to death. The first section is entitled “Clotho”, after the goddess responsible for spinning the thread of human life. The music has a solemn pace, an obscure mood and every now and again could conjure up strange phenomena... 

Next comes the nervous section entitled “Lachesis” and related to the goddess measurer of each thread of life. Here, after a nervous start the rhythm calms down as to indicate the acceptance of fate. Then it’s the turn of the ethereal “Interlude II – Ananke” where we meet the personification of inevitability, compulsion and necessity, the mother of the Fates and the only one to have control over their decisions...

L'Albero del Veleno

The following section is entitled “Atropos” after the goddess who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of mortals by cutting their thread. The Grim Reaper enters the scene wielding her scythe with a surge of energy underlined by fiery organ waves and raging flute notes, then boldly marches towards the unknown... The final section is entitled “Postlude – Moros”, after the god of impending doom, the one who drives mortals to their deadly fate. This delicate and evocative part with piano and violin in the forefront is a kind of elegy of intense beauty that ends the album with a nocturnal atmosphere and a sense of infinite peace...

On the whole, a very mature work where the band showcase great compositional skills and musicianship mixing classical music and rock with extraordinary freshness and gusto.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

http://www.alberodelveleno.it/

https://www.facebook.com/alberodelveleno

THE EVIL TREE

L'Albero del Veleno began life in Florence in 2010 on the initiative of keyboardist and composer Nadin Petricelli and drummer Claudio Miniati with the aim to recreate the musical atmosphere of Italian horror and thriller soundtracks from the seventies. The name of the band means “The Poison Tree” and was inspired by an ancient Eastern myth, a kind of metaphor describing a beautiful entity hiding an evil nature. It tells about a tree which attracts people thanks to its fruits and to the peaceful shade of its branches but beware! The people who stop under the tree to take a rest will never wake up on account of the deathly power of its poison.

After some line up changes and a hard work, in 2013 the band released a début album, “Le radici del male” (The roots of evil), on the independent label Lizard Records. The renewed line up features Nadin Petricelli (keyboards, synth), Claudio Miniati (drums), Lorenzo Picchi (guitars), Michele Andreuccetti (bass), Francesco Catoni (viola) and Marco Brenzini (flute) and the result of their efforts is a surprisingly fresh blending of vintage sounds and new ideas. Of course, they could recall Goblin or the Swedish band Anima Morte but the band showcase a great musicianship and a touch of sparkling vitality.

L'Albero del Veleno 2013

The opener “Dove danzano le streghe” (Where the witches dance) begins softly, then the rhythm rises and the dance begins. The atmosphere is haunting and you can really breath tension and a strange kind of excitement where joy and fury are at war. The following “... e resta il respiro” (… and breathing remains) begins with an old, dark waltz coming from times out of mind, then the music lights like a fire casting uneasy, flickering shadows all around.

“Presenze dal passato” (Appearances from the past) has a strong classical flavour and features delicate piano patterns and melancholic violin lines. It leads to the more aggressive “Un altro giorno di terrore” (Another day of terror) where feelings like fear and pain are painted with strong musical colours. For this tack the band shot a video that is included as a bonus on the CD.

“Due anime nella notte” (Two souls in the night) is another dark, haunting piece where you can imagine two lost souls in the night dancing like moths around a fire, mesmerized. The last track, “Al di là del sogno... l'incubo riaffiora” (Beyond the dream... Nightmare comes back), is a tribute the films by director Lucio Fulci and to the music of Fabio Frizzi and it's a medley taken from four different scores Sette note in nero (The Psychic), Zombi 2, Paura nella città dei morti viventi (City of the Living Dead) e ... e tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà (The Beyond) The different parts are perfectly matched together and this long piece sounds like a wonderful suite that begins with the sound of a carillon and ends with a powerful crescendo. A delightful gran finale for an excellent work!

You can listen to the complete album in streaming. Click HERE

L'Albero del Veleno: Le radici del male (2013). Other opinions:

Michel “Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: L'Albero del Veleno now joins the company of artists like Jacula/Antonius Rex, Devil Doll, Il Segno del Comando, and of course the mighty Goblin that inhabit the darker corners of the Italian progressive genre. Short but darkly sweet, their debut release gets them off to a fine start, and the sheer talent on display from the band, not only in their playing, but in the grand arrangements and their ambitions of creating films to complement and enhance their work suggests a band with many great ideas, that will see them further mature and develop their sound in the future. For now, `Le Radici del Male' is a perfect introduction, and surely just the beginning of a distinctive and promising new project... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:
http://www.alberodelveleno.it/
https://www.facebook.com/alberodelveleno  

AN INTERESTING MASKED BALL

“I am a singer of songs that I learned in the far city, and my calling is to make beauty with the things remembered of childhood. My wealth is in little memories and dreams, and in hopes that I sing in gardens when the moon is tender and the west wind stirs the lotos-buds...” (H.P. Lovecraft, from The Quest Of Iranon). Well, I think that this quote could describe in some way the spirit and the mood of Goad's new album, “Masquerade”. Maurilio Rossi and his band have been around for many years although they have never emerged from the underground scene. Luckily they never gave up the musical dreams of their youth and in my opinion “Masquerade” is their best work so far. It was recorded between 2007 and 2011 with a line up featuring Maurilio Rossi (organ, keyboards, bass, guitars), Francesco Diddi (violin, flute, sax, guitar), Gianni Rossi (guitar, backing vocals), Vick Usai (drums), Tommaso Baggiani (drums), Luis Magnanimo (bass), and Antonio Vannucci (piano, keyboards) but during the recording sessions they were helped by many guest musicians. The album was finally released in 2011 on the independent label Black Widow Records and I think that the result is excellent. You can find here all the passion of the band for vintage sounds and the literary works of artists such as Edgar Allan Poe or Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Among Goad's sources of inspiration there are bands such as Van der Graaf Generator, Genesis or King Crimson, of course, but the song-writing of this Florentine band is good and rich in ideas.

The opener “Fever Called Living” features heavy electric guitar riffs, touches of flute and dark organ rides. It describes a desperate escape from reality where the grave becomes a shelter, a peaceful bed where you can rest and dream for the eternity... “Thanks Heaven! The crises, the danger is past... And the fever called living is conquered at last...”. The following “Eldorado” is a hard rock track in two parts that could recall Deep Purple. The lyrics are taken from a poem by E.A. Poe describing a gallant knight and his pointless quest for the land of gold... “But he grew old / This knight so bold / And o'er his heart a shadow / Fell as he found / No spot of ground / That looked like Eldorado...”.

“The Last Knowledge” is another track divided into two parts. It is calmer, melancholic and evokes overwhelming memories, the dark shadow of a missing lover and the killing strength of her absence. Next comes the reflective “The Judge” which describes in music and words a strange meeting with a talking painting crying blood. It's the painting of an old judge who during his life condemned many people to death and now is haunted by their ghosts for the eternity... “I spent all my life sitting on that chair / Trying to understand, trying to be fair / Many and many lives I had in my hand / I was a judge, I was like God / They gave the power to punish with my rod...”.

The next three tracks are also taken from E.A. Poe's poems. “The Valley Of Unrest” features an ethereal, sad atmosphere evoking perennial tears which descend in gems from a cloudy sky, “To Helen” features a strong classical inspiration and is an unconventional ode to beauty while the delicate, introspective “Alone” expresses isolation and inner torment. Then comes “Masquerade (Fast & Short)”, just an appetizer for the long conclusive suite.

The nice classical inspired instrumental “Intro (Classic Guitar Prelude)” leads to the mysterious, mystic “Slave Of The Holy Mountain” which describes an unsuccessful, metaphorical climbing to Heaven. The following “Dreamland” is another good track inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's powerful poetry and precedes a beautiful, dark instrumental titled “The Haunted Palace”. 

 

The last track, “Masquerade (With Dance Macabre)”, is a long, complex suite divided into five parts. It describes a strange dream and reminds me of the atmosphere of a H.P. Lovecraft's story... “There in the moonlight that flooded the spacious plain was a spectacle which no mortal, having seen it, could ever forget. To the sound of reedy pipes that echoed over the bog there glided silently and eerily a mixed throng of swaying figures, reeling through such a revel as the Sicilians may have danced to Demeter in the old days under the harvest moon beside the Cyane. The wide plain, the golden moonlight, the shadowy moving forms, and above all the shrill monotonous piping, produced an effect which almost paralysed me...”. (H.P. Lovecraft, The Moon-Bog). The musical texture here is extremely rich, there are many nuances and every time you'll listen to this piece you'll discover something new...

Well, all in all I think that this is a very good album... Have a try!

Goad: Masquerade (2011). Other opinions:

Jim Russell: At 77 minutes "Masquerade" is a long and chilling journey which some will say could use editing, but those who enjoy it will not want it to end. Driving heavy guitars and bass, chunky, lumbering and distorted are featured with all manner of dark keyboard textures, saxophone, and larger than life vocals. The moods are powerful and thundering, occasionally contrasted with eerie softer sections which just make the tracks pop with intrigue. In these sections you will experience sumptuous solo string performance, flute, and acoustic guitar----even a classical solo interlude at one point. But the most important impression to convey is the sense of unease and imbalance foisted on the listener as this unfolds like a tale from a dusty old magician's book... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

http://www.goad.it/
http://www.reverbnation.com/goad

http://www.myspace.com/goad2010
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Goad/134124063308933 

DARK SHINING DREAMS

Goad are an Italian band from Florence that began life in the seventies on the initiative of multi-instrumentalist Maurilio Rossi and guitarist Gianni Rossi. Among their main influences and “sources of inspiration” you can find bands such as Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, Black Widow, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Triumph, Genesis, Catapilla, Atomic Rooster and Black Sabbath, along with writers and poets as H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Edgar Lee Masters. Their early recordings date back to eighties and during the years the band went though many troubles and line up changes. In the nineties they released albums such as “Tribute To Edgar Allan Poe" (1994), “Glimpse” (1998) and “Il Minosse” (1999). Then followed “Dark Virgin” (2001), “Raoment: Spoon River Anthology Songs” (2004) and “The Wood – Dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft” (2006). “In the House of the Dark Shining Dreams” was released in 2007 with a line up featuring Maurilio Rossi (organ, keyboards, moog, mellotron, guitars), Paolo Carniani (drums), Roberto Masini (guitar, violin), Francesco Diddi (violin, flute, sax) and Gianni Rossi (guitar) but during the recording sessions they were helped by some guest musicians. This is the first Goad’s album released on Black Widow Records, an interesting and dynamic Italian independent label from Genoa with a special taste for Gothic and dark prog. It features some re-arranged pieces from their album “Dark Virgin” along with some new songs and two covers.

Goad

The album opens with an instrumental intro taken from Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D. The sound of a violin emerging from a raging storm introduces what seems to be the subject matter of this work... Nightmares! On the second track, “Yet Another Battlefield”, the music seems bellowing from underground with the sound of the organ in the forefront. Muddy, suffering vocals draw imagines of dead grey soldiers, broken shields and feasting crows over a gloomy landscape. You can find the same Gothic atmosphere in the following “The Clapper Beatin’ Fast”, where soaring vocals, distorted guitars and organ depict anguish and fear with words of lead... “In the house of the dark shining dreams / Lived the dumb Phantom / White was her face, vermilion the halo...”. Well, in my opinion the esoteric, obscure lyrics by Luca Leonello Rimbotti are not the strength of this album, moreover the voice of Maurilio Rossi in not always clear and the lyrics are not written in the booklet. Anyway the music is intriguing and flows away like the soundtrack of a horror movie where “a dark night devours and swallows the reality”.

In The House Of The Dark Shining Dreams - Album Cover

“Dark Virgin”, “Olympia”, the Van Der Graaf Generator cover “Killer”, “As Nothing Had Changed”, “Dark virgin 2”, “Steep Path”, “It's Always The Same Thing”, “Springy”, and the King Crimson cover “21^st Century Schizoid Man” follow in turn. There are some bluesy passages, classical inspired organ patterns, some hard rock guitar riffs and every now and again you can really feel a “wind of madness whistling in your ears”. The final “Genius Of Europe” includes a passage from Richard Wagner's Siegfried and evokes the ghost of a “world of eternal glory and beauty” corroded by hate and by the “wicked strokes of the new tele-barbarians”. It concludes, after more than 77 minutes, this interesting musical journey in the “Gothic side of prog”. On the whole an album that is worth listening to.

Goad: In The House Of The Dark Shining Dreams (2007). Other opinions

Pete Pardo: The music of Italy's Goad is not going to be for everyone, but if you like very dark prog, and are willing to invest close to 80 minutes of your time, this release could be for you. Next time out, they might want to work on the production a bit, as it's really muddy in spots, but the band obviously has a lot of talent and sound pretty different from the norm, so this should be something to seek out if you like obscure underground prog... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

http://www.goad.it/
http://www.reverbnation.com/goad

http://www.myspace.com/goad2010

TOSCANA (part 1)

And now we cross the northern part of the Apennine Mountains and go to TOSCANA and its capital FLORENCE, the cradle of Italian Renaissance. This is the city of artists and personalities such as Dante Alighieri, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Niccolò Machiavelli and Amerigo Vespucci just to name but a few. In the past this city gave us prog bands such as I Califfi, Campo di Marte, Sensations’ Fix, Bella Band, Triade, Standarte, Hopo, Chiave di Volta and Il Trono dei Ricordi. Campo di Marte’s leader Enrico Rosa (MySpace) is still active and every now and again he still performs the old tracks of the band, along with some new stuff. He also started a new jazz blues project called Link XII (MySpace).

Founder member of Il Trono dei Ricordi, Alessandro Lamuraglia (MySpace) now is a composer of soundtracks for cinema and TV commercials while his brother and co-founder of the band, Paolo Lamuraglia, started a prog folk project called Carmains Ensemble (MySpace). The best known contemporary prog band from Florence are Nuova Era (MySpace), formed in the eighties and kept alive by keyboardist and leader Walter Pini.

In Florence we can also listen to the Gothic prog Goad (Official Website), the dark, hard Sancta Sanctorum (MySpace) and Funeral Marmoori (Facebook), the psychedelic Alchemy Daze (Facebook) and London Underground (MySpace) and the folk oriented Bizantina (MySpace) whose repertoire features original tracks and traditional songs from the Mediterranean area re-arranged by the band. Bizantina’s latest work is a musical called Orlando tarantato, inspired by the pupi siciliani.

Other local bands that deserve mentioning are Le Porte Non Aperte (MySpace), L'Albero del Veleno (Reverbnation), Stazione Lumière (Facebook), Magredea (MySpace), Biofonia (MySpace), D.S.B. (MySpace), Enima (MySpace), Finister (Facebook), Etesii (MySpace), MotoreImmobile (MySpace), Seldon (MySpace), Merging Cluster (Facebook), Sunday Sheebs (MySpace), the experimental folk Gargamella (MySpace) and the psychedelic Ombra Esterna (MySpace).

But Toscana is not only Florence and in the other cities of the region we can find some interesting prog bands too. From Figline Valdarno come Basta! (Reverbnation) while another town near Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, is home to a heavy prog band called Juglans Regia (MySpace). Juglans Regia started their activity in 1992 as a metal band (under the name of Raising Fear) but their style changed over the years taking a more progressive direction. In 2008 they released Visioni parallele, their best work so far, featuring some guest musicians on keyboards and back vocals that helped to enrich the overall sound.

Heading west we pass through PRATO, home to the experimental Laboratorio del Sogno Lucido (MySpace), Orchestra d'Oblio (Facebook) and the psychedelic Raven Sad (MySpace). Then we go to PISTOIA where we can find some interesting prog folk bands such as L’Apprendista Bardo (MySpace) and Les Griotes (MySpace), then the young, interesting Intarsia, formerly known as Il Giardino del Mago (Facebook), the psychedelic La Favola di Esis (MySpace) and the melodic Fantasia Pura Italiana (MySpace). Pistoia also gave us the best known accordionist Riccardo Tesi who in tha past started a prog folk project called Ritmia. South of Pistoia lies Empoli where we find a promising band called Opra Mediterranea (MySpace).

Then we head north west and pass through the small town of Altopascio where we can listen to a young Christian metal influenced prog band called S91 (MySpace). Finally we reach LUCCA, birthplace of composers as Giacomo Puccini, Francesco Geminiani and Luigi Boccherini, where we can listen to a particular singer-songwriter who could be of some interest to prog fans, Emanuele Bavieri (MySpace).