DOUBTS AND PROMISES

L’Attimo del Dubbio is an interesting project from Padua that took shape in 2018, inspired by the soundtracks of Italian crime action seventies B-movies (a genre known as poliziottesco), in the vein of bands such as Calibro 35, La Batteria, Strato’s or Apollo Beat. In May 2021 they self-released a first EP entitled Vol. 1 with a line up featuring Filippo Lazzarin (guitar, organ – previously member of another prog band called Vuoti a Rendere), Alberto Baretta (drums, synth – from Oberon) and Andrea Mengardo (bass). It’s just a nice collection of five short instrumental pieces, a kind of declaration of intent. The art cover gives a good idea of the musical content and of the sources of inspiration...

The opener “Niente mezze misure” (No half measures) starts by a dark church-like organ passage, then the rhythm section comes in and the tension rises for a reckless ride through the streets of a busy city... The following “L'attimo del dubbio” (The moment of doubt) brings a touch of mystery and vague Mediterranean flavours while the cinematic “Il tormento e l'estasi” (Torment and ecstasy) is more frenzied and dynamic.

“La bravata” (The stunt) features a brilliant drumming and some sudden changes of direction while the last track, “Istantanea di una rapina” (Snapshot of a robbery), ends the EP with a darker, reflective atmosphere and good promises for the future...

You can listen to the complete EP HERE

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In December 2021 the band self-released another EP, Vol. 2. It’s just another collection of five short pieces, but this time the band, with the line up still featuring Filippo Lazzarin (guitar, organ, vocals), Alberto Baretta (drums, synth) and Andrea Mengardo (bass), during the recording session was helped by two other former members of Vuoti a Rendere, credited as guest musicians, Annalisa Agostini (sax) and Marina Miola (violin) who contributed to enrich the sound. The art cover is in the same style of that on the previous EP and the subject matter is the same as well but, in my opinion, the song-writing is more consistent and marks a step forward...

The opener “L'alchimista” (The alchemist) starts slowly and conjures up the image of a mysterious character. As the rhythm rises, from deep within him rise thoughts dark and dangerous as the shapes of killer sharks rising to the smell of blood... I think that this short quote from The Sunbird by Wilbur Smith could describe the atmosphere of this track very well! Next comes the nervous “Night Stalker” that suggests the feeling that tragedy might prove to lurk behind a curious train of events...

The jazzy “Disevoluzione” (Disevolution) is a disquieting piece containing some sarcastic reflections about the regression of our civilization, based on an indiscriminate, void criticism and a serious lack of values and ideals. Beware! There’s nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact... This is also the only sung piece of the EP.

The title of the following “Lupus in Fabula” (Speak of the devil) refers to a Latin expression used when you speak of someone or something that suddenly appears out of the black, almost as if you were calling or summoning that presence. It’s a funny piece built on jumping bass lines and unexpected digressions... Then “Il contorsionista” (The contortionist) ends the Ep with a good dose of vitality and gusto.

On the whole, a very promising work!

You can listen to the complete EP HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/lattimodeldubbio/ 

DARK SIDE OF A LADY

Empirical Time come from Padua and began life in 2011 on the initiative of Riccardo Scarparo and Andrea Baggio. Their aim was the recording of original compositions with the use of classical and electric instruments, inspired by bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis or Premiata Forneria Marconi, and featuring lyrics taken or inspired by poetry and literature. After a first demo in 2011, they released a début album in 2013, titled Songs, Poems And A Lady, on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records, with a line up featuring Riccardo Scarparo (keyboards, lead vocals), Andrea Baggio (bass), Federico Galleani (guitars, vocals), Giovanni Croatto (guitars, vocals) and Robert Anthony Jameson (drums, vocals). Thanks to the help of their producer Mike 3rd and to the mastering by Ronan Chris Murphy, the sound quality is excellent although, in my opinion, the music every now and again seems a bit too derivative. As suggested by the cover, this is a concept album dedicated to a mysterious Lady, a muse with many faces, a strange character to discover...

In fact, the album begins by five tracks taken from The Lucy Poems, a series of poems composed by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth between 1798 and 1801. In the series, Wordsworth examines the poet's unrequited love for the idealised character of Lucy, an English girl who has died young. The idea of her death weighs heavily on the poet throughout the series, imbuing it with a melancholic, elegiac tone. Whether Lucy was based on a real woman or was a fruit of the poet's imagination has long been a matter of debate among scholars. Generally reticent about the poems, Wordsworth never revealed the details of her origin or identity... Most critics agree that she is essentially a literary device upon whom he could project, meditate and reflect... (from Wikipedia)

The first piece is taken from “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”. The music initially recalls Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon, but then sudden surges of keyboards light the fire and bring in some EL&P reminiscences sweeping out fears and shadows... Next comes the ethereal “Strange Fits Of Passion”, a long track that every now and again reminds me of an Australian band called Augie March... Then “She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways” features a slow pace and melancholic tones and leads to “Three Years She Grew In Sun And Shower”, another complex piece where Pink Floyd influences are apparent although filtered with a personal touch and a pinch of tarantella. The nocturnal “I Travelled Among Unknown Men” concludes the part of the album dedicated to the poetry of Wordsworth, infused with abstract ideals of beauty, nature, love, longing and death... “I travelled among unknown men / In lands beyond the sea / Nor, England! Did I know till then / What love I bore to thee...”.

Lucy is a name that is usually associated with sky and diamonds. Well, on “Diamond Lady Pt. 1” diamonds are the symbol of the multifaceted personality of the mysterious woman who inspired the album. The music, again, recalls Pink Floyd but with some touches of exoticism that contribute to add some strange, disquieting colours to the portrait of the lady. With the excellent instrumental “Untamed”, the dreamy “Overshadowed Breathing” and “Diamond Lady Pt. 2” it forms a kind of suite full of shadows and lights. By the way, for the demo version of “Diamond Lady Pt.1”, in 2012 the band shot a video directed by Nicola Schito and starring Stefania Fornasier...

Two short instrumental tracks linked together, “Whispers From The Past” and “Dancing On Saturno” conclude the album with waves of dark energy and some bright, soaring melodic passages.

On the whole, I think that this is an interesting work but I'm sure that this band will do even better in the future.

More info:

http://www.empiricaltime.com 

https://www.facebook.com/empiricaltimeband 

VENETO (part 2)

North of Venice lies TREVISO, which in the past gave us prog bands such as Capsicum Red, Asgard and Apryl (from the nearby town of Conegliano). Today here we can find Faveravola (Official Website), a band formed by some veterans who have been active since the seventies and who in 2007 released the beautiful concept album Contea dei cento castagni.

Interesting contemporary bands from this city are also Aphelion (MySpace), an instrumental project featuring metal influences, and Magnetic Sound Machine (MySpace), highly recommended to jazz-rock lovers. Other bands from Treviso that deserve mentioning are Antilabé (MySpace), Geo’s (MySpace), Epoca (Reverbnation), Lyn (MySpace), Safarà (MySpace), Quarto Vuoto (Facebook) and Synderesi (MySpace). In Treviso there are also the headquarters of the independent label specialized in prog Lizard Records. Then, from the nearby town of Montebelluna comes bass player and composer Alberto Rigoni (MySpace), from Asolo come Il Labirinto di Alice (Facebook) while from a beautiful place north of Treviso, Cison di Valmarino, comes an interesting melodic prog band called Ephemeris (MySpace). Another town north of Treviso, Vittorio Veneto, is home to an interesting band called The Former Life (Facebook) and the little town of Motta di Livenza is home to a talanted band called Il Fedelissimo Bracco Branco (Facebook).

Leaving Treviso, still heading north we enter the province of BELLUNO and the amazing alpine area of the Dolomiti, where we can listen to Idea Ostile (MySpace), Crazy Valves (Facebook), Sirgaus (Facebook) and Campo Magnetico (Facebook), born in 2014 from the ashes of a band called John Silver Band (MySpace).

And now back south, to PADUA, the city of Saint Anthony, 40 km west of Venice. Padua is also the birth place of the famous architect Andrea Palladio, whose XVIth century villas in the area of Padua, Venice, Vicenza and Treviso are amongst the most beautiful of Italy, and of Giovanni Battista Belzoni, adventurer, engineer and Egyptologist to whom is dedicated a new concept album by the prog band from Turin Arti e Mestieri, Il grande Belzoni. In the past Padua gave us bands such as Eneide, Mellonta Tauta (Bandcamp), Daphne (Bandcamp) and Audio (Bandcamp) while the contemporary prog scene features bands such as the promising Empirical Time (MySpace), the folk jazz Calicanto (Official Website), the theatrical Lamanaïf (MySpace) and Maieutica (Facebook), the psychedelic Astralia (MySpace), Laatia (MySpace), Hypnoise (MySpace), and Collettivo Androgino (Reverbnation) or the metal influenced Centrica (MySpace) and Twinspirits (MySpace).

In the seventies one of the very few bands linked to the right wing movement, La Compagnia dell’Anello (Official Website), also began life here. The band is still in activity and they’re working on a new album. According to some interviews with the band, it will be a self produced double album in two parts. The first will be heavily prog influenced and will feature a concept inspired by the work of the poet Ezra Pound. The second will feature some new tracks and old unreleased stuff re-arranged. At the moment a new track is available, a piece dedicated to a pilot of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, Giovanni Battista Boscutti, who died in 1944 fighting against the Allied forces that were bombarding the city of Padua.

South of Padua lies ROVIGO where we can listen to a good contemporary band called Anfiteatro (MySpace) and to the metal influenced Eloa Vadaath (Reverbnation). Rovigo is also home to composer and multi-instrumentalist Marco Ragni (Facebook) and Alessio Trapella (Facebook) who collaborated with Le Orme and in 2022 released an interesting solo album entitled La ricerca dell'imperfezione. Here there started an interesting band called A Piedi Nudi. Their guitarist, Nicola Gardinale, has changed musical direction and has formed a blues-rock project called Nic-G And The Mogsy (MySpace).

Leaving Rovigo, we head now back north to VICENZA, which in the past gave us bands such as Abissi Infiniti and Top Left Corner. Now it’s the time of Absenthia (Official Website), an excellent band that combines tradition with heavier sounds and in 2009 released an excellent self produced debut album, Tenebrae Vincunt. Other local bands that in my opinion it is worth mentioning are Malus Antler (Facebook) and the jazz-rock Vertical (MySpace) and Mandela (Facebook). Not far from Vicenza, in a town called Bassano del Grappa, which in the past gave us bands such as Antephonia and Slogans, you can find a very good CD shop, Pick Up Records and listen to an interesting band called Glincolti (Official Website), the jazz-rock Endless Season (Facebook) and to Mad Fellaz (Facebook) while Schio is home to Sticky Brain (Facebook)

We conclude our visit to Veneto in VERONA, the city of Romeo and Juliet, also known for its landmark ancient Roman amphitheatre, the Verona Arena, which is internationally famous for its large-scale opera performances. You can find here a good contemporary prog scene featuring excellent bands such as the jazz rock D.F.A. (MySpace), Logos (Official Website) and Astrolabio (MySpace), a new band born from the ashes of Elettrosmog (MySpace), a band that in 2007 released an interesting album entitled Monologando.

Other prog bands from Verona are the neo prog Marygold (Official Website) and Iperuranio (Official Website), the young and very promising Gran Torino (MySpace) and Side C (MySpace), the experimental Reqviem (MySpace) and Le Maschere di Clara (MySpace), then Il Rumore Bianco (Facebook), Rosenkreutz (Facebook), Calia (MySpace), D’Anima (MySpace), Moto Armonico (Reverbnation), MonnaLisa (Facebook), Alchemy Victory (Facebook), Oltremare (MySpace), Castelli in Aria (MySpace), Masons (MySpace), Il Fauno di Marmo (MySpace), The Oneira (Facebook), the metal influenced Methodica (MySpace) and the folk-oriented Domus de Janas (MySpace). A good venue for prog lovers in this area is the Club il Giardino.