FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Ambigram came to life some years ago in Piacenza on the initiative of two experienced musicians such as Beppe Lombardo and Max Marchini who gathered around them a kind of super-group to give form to their musical ideas mixing seventies influences and up to date sounds. In 2021 they finally released an excellent eponymous debut album on the independent Ma.Ra.Cash label with a line up featuring Francesco Rapaccioli (lead and backing vocals), Beppe Lombardo (guitars), Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (drums, percussion) and Max Marchini (bass) plus the guests Annie Barbazza (vocals), Max Repetti (piano, keyboards), Marco Rancati (backing vocals), Paola Folli (vocals), Camillo Mozzoni (oboe) and Paolo Tofani (guitar). By the way, an ambigram is a word or drawing that retains meaning when viewed from a different direction or perspective and the art work by drummer and graphic artist Gigi Cavalli Cocchi gives an idea of this concept, with the name of the band on the cover that can be read the same way if viewed upside down...

 

The opener “A Mediterranean Tale” starts softly, the atmosphere is dreamy as the music and lyrics evoke ancient legends and myths related to the Mediterranean sea under a starry sky. From the images of Troy to a charming singing of mermaids, the sea seems to bring its secrets up to the surface and the wind carries them away on the changing rhythm of the waves...

Dreams turn into nightmare in the following “Cerberus Reise” that describes in music and words the meeting with an infernal three-headed beast raising from a concrete rock to angrily rape and kill. But the protagonist is a poisonous, lethal prey that wields a sword of light and is ready to fight back the evil creature...

 

“Pig Tree” starts by an aggressive electric guitar riff, then the music and lyrics lead you on the frontier between good and bad, where there are deep, dark waters under your feet and flashes above still clouds. It might be just a matter of points of views but we live in a world where money rules and where even Alice gives no pills for free to let you enter in wonderland, a world that hides many moons and where many suns shine...

“Sailing Home” every now and again could recall Yes in the first part while the middle section features the female vocals of the guest Paola Folli and recalls Pink Floyd. Your destination is still hidden by the horizon but, as you sail on a calm sea, you can already smell the air of home and dream of the end of your journey...

 

The reflective “Imaginary Daughter” portrays with visionary lyrics and nervous notes a rebellious girl who follows her wild nature and dreams of being a mother in a hostile, poisoned world... Then comes the dramatic “L’absinthe”, a piece dealing with the problem of alcohol addiction. The protagonist wrongly believes that alcohol can destroy his nightmares and help him fighting his inner ghosts. The absinthe sings with voice of a gentle giant lighting the candles of illusion and bringing lost songs from the sky. But eventually the protagonist’s soul cries as he’s led away by madness, broken down...

The introspective “Patchwork” depicts in music and words snowy landscapes and a frozen lake reflecting your thoughts. In just thirty seconds you breathe on curved air, it’s a time with no space nor meaning to create, the moment in which you must begin your personal search to love... Then it’s the turn of “Pearls Before Swine”, a short piece about the cruelty of pig killing: did God create a paradise for them?... A radio edit version of “Cerberus Reise” ends the album...

On the whole, a very interesting work.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Ambigram: Ambigram (2021). Other opinions: 

Kevin Rowland: These guys should be considered crossover in its truest sense as they are mixing together loads of different styles, and while they often are in neo they definitely bring in other elements while never going to the style often associated with Italian bands of huge banks of keyboards. This is a debut prog album well worth discovering, which repays repeated listenings... (read the complete review HERE)

 

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/ambigramband/ 

EMILIA - ROMAGNA (part 2)

South-East of Bologna, in the past the area called ROMAGNA, including the cities of FORLI', CESENA, RAVENNA, RIMINI and the Republic of San Marino, gave us bands such as Guercia and Foglie di Vetro. This area is best known for its discotheques and for its entertainment industry and in the seventies one of these discotheques, L’altro mondo, became famous for the jam sessions of many prog artists. Forlì is the birthplace of guitarist Riccardo Zappa (Official Website), an interesting artist that started his career in the seventies and who is still active today.

The current prog scene of Romagna features bands such as the excellent Una Volta Eravamo in Sette (MySpace) who in 2010 released a self produced debut concept album, La ballata del vecchio marinaio, inspired by the poetry of Samuel T. Coleridge, then there are Le Ore Devianti (MySpace), Il Vaso di Pandora (Facebook), Silver Linings (Facebook), the hard Buttered Bacon Biscuits (MySpace), Witchwood (Facebook.com) the psychedelic Kisses From Mars (MySpace), Pater Nembrot (Facebook), Desert Wizards (Facebook) and Tangerine Stoned (Facebook), the post rock projects Neil On Impression (MySpace) and Venezia (MySpace), the dark, heavy Witchfield (MySpace) and the prog folk Araba Fenice (MySpace).

And now let’s take the Via Aemilia heading north west and visit the other cities in the region. First we go to MODENA, the city of the famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti and of the painter Walter Mac Mazzieri, whose works appear on some famous prog album covers. Here we can find the hard, psychedelic Donkey Breeder (MySpace) and an intrumental prog-jazz project called Pocket Size Universe (Facebook). From Modena there also comes a popular folk rock band called Modena City Ramblers (MySpace). Although they can hardly be classified as a prog band, their committed “combat folk” has been very influential on the recent Italian prog-folk scene.

Then we go to REGGIO EMILIA, the birthplace of poet Ludovico Ariosto. This place is home to bands such as Mangala Vallis (Official Website), Trama Sonora (Official Website), Master Experience (MySpace), Arcanoise (MySpace), Anabasi Road (Facebook) and a folk rock project called Matelda (MySpace). Not far from Reggio Emilia there is the castle of Canossa. On the initiative of drummer and founder member of Mangala Vallis Gigi Cavalli Cocchi a prog rock opera, Canossa, was released in 2006 which was inspired by the character of Matilda of Canossa, featuring Mangala Vallis, Arcanoise, Master Experience, Trama Sonora and others. By the way, Gigi Cavalli Cocchi has recently teamed up with vocalist Bernardo Lanzetti and keyboardist Cristiano Roversi and now they are working on a new project called Cavalli Cocchi, Lanzetti & Roversi (Facebook).

The nearby town of Novellara gave us one of the most popular Italian pop-rock bands, I Nomadi (Official Website) who in the early seventies released (as almost everyone else in Italy in that period) some albums with soft prog influences that might be of interest to prog lovers. From Reggio Emilia to PARMA, the city of orchestra conductor Arturo Toscanini and of famous opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. In the seventies Parma gave us Rocky’s Filj and Acqua Fragile. Franz Dondi, bassist and founder member of Acqua Fragile is still active and is trying to keep the band alive with a renewed line-up under the name Acqua Fragile Project (MySpace). Other contemporary prog bands from this city are the very interesting Altare Thotemico (MySpace), Strato's (Facebook) and the emerging SlideA (MySpace) and Unreal City (MySpace).

We conclude our visit to Emilia-Romagna in PIACENZA. The current prog scene of this city features an interesting band, Wicked Minds (MySpace), who started in 1987 as a thrash metal act and only in 2000, after keyboardist Paolo “Apollo” Negri had joined with his Hammond, found a “new dimension” which is more hard-progressive oriented and the band has released some very interesting works. Other local bands that deserve mentioning are Ambigram (Facebook), Mindflower (MySpace), Art And Illusion (MySpace), David’s Lodgers (MySpace), Active Heed (Facebook), Nightcross (Facebook) and the experimental Pertegò (MySpace). I also recommend listening to an excellent band called Lagartija (Bandcamp) and the emerging Big Muff Project (MySpace).