MAD CIRCUS

Road To Planet Circus is the fourth album by Mad Fellaz and was self-released in 2022 with a renewed line up featuring Paolo Busatto (electric and acoustic guitar), Andrea Cecchetto (drums, percussion), Ruggero Burigo (guitars), Carlo Passuello (bass), Enrico Brunelli (keyboards, synthesizers), Rudy Zilio (flute, clarinet, synthesizers), and Luca Brighi (lead and backing vocals) plus some guests such as Giovanni Forestan (sax), Davide Baratto (guitar, backing vocals), Evridika Cuder (backing vocals), Fabio Trentini (backing vocals), Giancarlo Romano (trumpet) and Marcello Sambataro (additional keyboards). As on the previous album, during the recording sessions they were helped by producer Fabio Trentini (Moonbound, Le Orme) and shaped their compositions with a strong focus on the “groove” in a nice blend of prog, jazz-rock, fusion, funk, afro and even a bit of soul. The beautiful artwork by Antonio Carrara tries to depict the musical content...

 

The opener “The Animal Spell” features hypnotic atmospheres and exotic flavours that might recall the imaginary landscapes of Roger Dean. The music and lyrics in some way invite you to close your eyes and take off from the ground jumping up to the sky where life beats hard and you can find beautiful, deep colours and paint your dreams with them...

The lively, carefree “Free As A Dog” portrays a man walking on a street as free as he can be in a bright sunny day. He can run wherever he likes and no chain can stop him, all he needs is the light of the sun shining through the rain and its warming effect on his skin to feel good. The music every now and again reminds me slightly of PFM...

“Jokepot” is a funny piece inspired by the character and the story of Giancarlo Pelosini, an Italian TV quiz show contestant who answered by a suggestive joke to an ambiguous question about the warlike qualities of the legendary Amazons. He lost a huge sum of money but became famous... Next comes the lively “Sips Of Confidence”, a warning against the charming, false promises of modern barkers who draw your attention to sell you illusory remedies to soothe your pains...

 

“Rise And Shine” starts by a soft, acoustic intro. Here the vocals are used just like an instrument to add a touch of colour. When the rhythm rises the dreaming atmosphere does not vanish and the music shines like the sun upon the desert producing mirages... The following “Tuareg’s Dance” evokes in music and words a long caravan of tired men and women that, step after step is crossing a hot, sunny desert. The falling rain is like a blessing for them, an injection of hope for their hard journey towards the sea... Then, “Exodus” describes their feelings, the silent cries they left behind and the difficult choices they had to made leaving their homeland to reach the shore from where diving into the unknown...

On the notes of the sarcastic “Candy Store” you disembark on a greedy world where you have to keep calm and maintain your self-control because all what you can see is deceiving and dangerous. Real happiness lies on a magic land where there’s no crime nor lies, a paradise where you can find love everywhere... A place that doesn’t exist! Next comes “Babylon” where there are some passages that might recall Gentle Giant blended with Oriental flavours. The music and words convey a sense of dramatic awareness about all what’s going around you. It’s written in your eyes that you want back your liberty...

The following “Rise Again” begins a cappella and the influence of Gentle Giant is stronger than ever when the vocals evoke the sense of freedom that can experience children plying games and climbing trees... Eventually, the long, beautiful instrumental “Tennouheika No Sakura” (Cherry Blossoms of His Majesty the Emperor) closes the album with a surreal, dreamy atmosphere...

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

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.madfellaz.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/MADFELLAZ/ 

 

VOICES IN THE HEAD

Mad Fellaz III is the third album by Mad Fellaz and was self-released in 2019 with a renewed line up featuring Paolo Busatto (electric and acoustic guitar), Marco Busatto (drums), Ruggero Burigo (electric guitar, electric sitar), Carlo Passuello (bass), Enrico Brunelli (electric and acoustic piano, synthesizers, Hammond organ, Mellotron), Rudy Zilio (flute, sax, synthesizers, backing vocals), Lorenzo Todesco (percussion) and Luca Brighi (lead and backing vocals) plus some guests such as Luca Ardini (sax), Davide Baratto (12 string acoustic guitar), Jacopo Mazzarolo (oboe), Mattia Marangon (French horn), Sergio Orso (violin), Louise Antonello (violin), Elena Ceccato (viola) and Rolando Moro (cello). During the recording sessions they were helped by producer Fabio Trentini (Moonbound, Le Orme) and the result is a rich, colourful and refined sound that emphasizes the skills of the musicians. In some way this work can be considered a concept album telling the story of a man who tries to fight against his madness. All the pieces follow a thread and the artwork by Marco Tosin could give a clue of its musical and lyrical content... 

 

The opener “Es / Frozen Side” starts by a frenzied instrumental section, then the mood becomes dark as the music and lyrics evoke the inner voices haunting the protagonist, invasive ghosts tormenting him, sneaking into his dreams in the frozen side of his brain. He can’t stand it any more, he tries to escape but there’s no way out, his inner demons want to take control of him and surround his consciousness suggesting to surrender with soothing words... All in all, madness is a friend!

 

The melancholic “Leaf” describes the protagonist wandering around like a leaf lost in the wind, a broken man waiting for his chance but with no master plan to escape... Then the following “Liquid Bliss” with its Latin rock influences and an electric guitar solo that could recall Santana conjures up subtle, diabolical temptations... Have a drink and relax! But alcohol addiction or the use of other chemical substances can’t save the protagonist from his inner ghosts...

Next comes “Fumes From The Ruins”, an excellent short instrumental track with a melancholic, dreamy atmosphere that leads to the folksy “Under These Clouds”, a beautiful piece that begins by a soft acoustic guitar arpeggio, then soaring vocals and a good flute work depict a growing inner emptiness that makes the protagonist cry and feel terribly bad... He’s stuck under grey clouds of sadness, his world seems nasty, he left behind his memories, he lost everything, and now there’s no one that can rescue him... 

 

The dramatic “Frost” begins with a mysterious mood and an Oriental flavour, then the pace accelerates as anger blurs the sight... The protagonist wants to escape but he can’t. A softer, dreamy middle section follows but the dream soon turns into nightmare and the rhythm rises again, faster and faster, he’s falling down, breaking down. When the rhythm calms down he realizes that we’re all passengers on a train that somebody calls life. Now he feels cold, he can’t tell anguish from happiness, all the bridges have been burnt and now he’s alone and cries his eyes out because he doesn’t want to die...

 

Mad Fellaz on stage, 2019

“Sweet Silent Oblivion” starts by acoustic guitar and flute. The mood is dreamy, memories fade away. The protagonist got out of control, his mind opened to the evil waves and he was dragged down... Then the rhythm rises announcing a last desperate struggling to survive but a spectral marching beat leads to a finale where you can guess who the winner is... “Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win...” (quote from Stephen King, The Shining).

 

On the whole, a very good work!

 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Mad Fellaz: Mad Fellaz III (2019). Other opinions:

Owen Davies: Whilst there is great variation on display in III, and many of the tunes have gratifying elements, the decision to combine exhilarating instrumental sections full of genre busting complexity, within what are essentially relatively straightforward vocal tunes does not always work fully. There were times when I felt that the vocal sections and melodies, which accompanied these sections, sounded unremarkable and in essence had traits, which identified them as just another prog band... (Read the complete review HERE)

 

More info:

https://www.madfellaz.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/MADFELLAZ/

 

MAD PRESSURE

 The second album by Mad Fellaz is entitled Mad Fellaz II and was self-released in 2016 with a renewed line up featuring Paolo Busatto (guitar), Marco Busatto (drums), Jason Nealy (guitar), Carlo Passuello (bass), Enrico Brunelli (keyboards), Rudy Zilio (flute, clarinet), Lorenzo Todesco (percussion) and Anna Farronato (vocals) plus some guests such as Flavio Brun (sax), Alessandro Brunetta (sax) and Sean Lucarello (trumpet). The artwork by Maria Todesco perfectly fits the musical content, a magic brew of different influences ranging from jazz to classical music, from Santana to Jethro Tull and many more...

 

 

The long opener “Hollow Shell” is a good mix of exoticism, jazz, folk and psychedelia evoking a dream world where time passes by through dangerous love affairs, ephemeral feelings and vain efforts to fill a life that could be perceived as empty when you get lost in a constant search for pleasure without the project to form a family or other goals...

 

The following “Blood Pressure” is a long suite divided into two parts that starts softly. In the first part the mood is relaxed, then the rhythm section begins to pump up the pressure, the tension rises and the stroke is just behind the corner as your heart seems on the verge of explosion trying to keep up the pace...

 

Mad Fellaz 2015

 

“Me Gusta” is a nice instrumental track where fiery Latin rhythm patterns are combined with hard rock, jazz and oriental flavours. Then it’s the turn of “O.V.O. (Of Virtual Omniscience)”, another long piece where you can find many changes in atmosphere and mood taking you on winding, endless roads across oneiric realms... 

 

 

Two instrumental tracks close the album. “Moslem Sabbath”, as you can guess from the title, combines hard rock and Middle-Eastern influences. After a heavy start marked by powerful electric guitar riffs and a sudden change in rhythm, it veers to more peaceful passages and represents a very strange call for a day of rest and prayer while the following “Meet The Gooroo” takes off like a glider and tries to lead you towards an inspirational source revealing the meaning of life... 

 

 

On the whole a very good work, even if the jazz trained vocals every now and again could sound a bit out of place. Anyway, have a try and judge for yourselves... 

 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

 

Mad Fellaz: Mad Fellaz II (2016). Other opinions: 

Michael “Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: The addition of vocals (and English ones at that) to much of what was a thrilling instrumental act is going to be a difficult thing to accept for some earlier listeners of Mad Fellaz, particularly when the group was doing so well already with the kind of music they were offering on their debut. However, if you pay proper attention, all the same instrumental skill and flair of the first album is always present here, just that it's sometimes in the background behind the vocals, or taking prominence in and out around the voice. Perhaps the group might have considered releasing a two-CD version of the album that included a purely instrumental mix of the main album, or even adopting a different name for this vocal-driven project… (read the complete review HERE) 

 

More info:

https://www.madfellaz.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/MADFELLAZ/ 

MODERN EXPLORERS

Mad Fellaz are a young band from from Bassano del Grappa, a town in the province of Vicenza, that began life in 2010 on the initiative of Paolo Busatto, Marco Busatto and Emanuele Pasin with the aim of playing original music inspired by the prog masters from the seventies but also by more recent bands such as Porcupine Tree. After a first demo in 2012, in 2013 Mad Fellaz released an excellent eponymous debut album on the independent label Lizard Records with a line up featuring Paolo Busatto (guitar), Marco Busatto (drums), Emanuele Pasin (guitar), Carlo Passuello (bass), Enrico Brunelli (keyboards) and Rudy Zilio (flute, clarinet). The album is completely instrumental and the band showcase great musicianship and excellent song-writing skills. The musical fabric is extremely rich and combines vintage sounds and modern influences with surprising freshness and brilliant results: in my opinion there's enough originality thrown into the mix to keep all the compositions and arrangements forward looking and interesting from the first minute to the last.

album cover

The album begins by a long, complex suite divided into two parts, “Il colpevole” (The guilty), that could be the perfect score for an Italian crime film from the seventies. There are no liner notes, so the plot is completely left up to your imagination while the music flows away without weak passages for more than thirty minutes, going through many changes in rhythm and mood, from delicate, nocturnal piano passages to fiery, nervous collective chases...

Next comes the lively “Banda Scavejoni”, the shortest track on the album that with its funky grooves recalls bands such as Calibro 35 and evokes more action and criminal deeds with a typical poliziottesco atmosphere.

The following “White Widow” starts with a drum roll, then a bluesy pace takes over while Jethro Tull's shadow looms large over the horizon. Who is the White Widow here? Is she a wicked, dangerous woman or just a powerful cannabis strain? The band give no clues and it's up to you to decide what the music is about...

The album ends with the nearly fifteen minute epic “La giungla” (The jungle) where you can experience exotic flavours and a strong sense of adventure. You can find here a broad palette of musical colours, from oriental mysticism to flamenco sketches, from dark tribal rhythms to joyful Latin rock à la Santana and while listening to this track I'm reminded of the adventures of fictional characters such as Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger or Henry Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain... A wonderful conclusion for a very interesting work!

Mad Fellaz 2014

In 2014, soon after the album was released, the band went through some line-up changes: guitarist Emanuele Pasin left while Lorenzo Todesco (percussion) and Jason Nealy (guitars) stepped in. At the moment Mad Fellaz are working on new material and I'm looking forward to listen to it!

Mad Fellaz: Mad Fellaz (2013). Other opinions:

Michael “Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: Combining everything from guitar fusion workouts, metal, ambient, electronica, avant-garde experimentation, jazz, ethnic flavours and plenty of Italian classical sophistication, their atmospheric self titled album constantly showcases a band that greatly enjoys experimenting with different genres, yet they never over-reach or attempt anything they're not comfortable with. Even more impressive is that they succeed in performing these different styles effortlessly in a truly proficient manner, making for an album that is daring, unpredictable and endlessly thrilling... Certainly one of the most sublime, varied and exquisite instrumental albums of recent years... A hugely exciting and talented band with a very promising future, already playing with a grand skill well beyond their young years... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/MAD-FELLAZ/130416753704789