THE BADGE

The long, complex title track that opens the album, 'Le relazioni pericolose' (The dangerous liaisons), was inspired by the French epistolary novel of the same title written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos in 1782, and by "Valmont", a 1989 romantic drama film directed by Milos Forman based on the same novel. The music and lyrics evoke the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two evil doers who use seduction as a weapon to control and exploit other people and enjoy their cruel, cynic games. It's a portrait of the French nobility just before the French Revolution that here is rendered with a strong sarcastic tone and a musical patchwork featuring original passages, many classical quotes and a short tribute to the score of the film composed by Christopher Palmer. Eventually, love succumbs to pride and vanity and all ends in tragedy with the image of a cold autumn wind sweeping the falling leaves on Valmont's grave...

'Anni '70' (Seventies) is a track that looks back with a strong sense of nostalgia to a period when the musicians of the band where younger and music was their only drug. Emotions, great expectations, dreams that along the years were blotted out by reality, no computers nor pay TV, the feeling that they could change the world. Anyway, the music and lyrics underline how the members of band are still playing together and why those memories can never die for them...

'Ancora un giorno dopo la fine' (One more day after the end) starts by a keyboard intro evoking the come back from the dark of a mysterious spectre. Then the rhythm rises and the music and lyrics describe the spectre wandering all day long through the woods and reflecting about the time he spent as a living being. Eventually, he realizes that even a bitter life is better than the void and that the strange silence surrounding him on Earth is better than an eternal peace... The music every now and again could recall Deep Purple and alternates hard rock rides to calmer classical inspired passages...

'Sotto il cielo d'Africa' (Under the Africa sky) begins by jumping electric guitar riffs and rolling organ surges that later alternate to more reflective sections. In the first part the lyrics evoke troubles, wars, exploitation, poverty... Africa is described as a paradise that was turn into hell! Then, after a short quote from Dvorak's New World there's room for hope with the lyrics evoking singing children, notes of peace and echoes of joy...

"Burokrat" draws in music and words the caustic portrait of a heartless bureaucrat. This is a curious, dangerous kind of animal that you might find behind the desk of a post office or, worse, in a tax office!... Next comes 'Dichiarazione' (Declaration) that after a pulsing start that could recall PFM turns into a dreamy mood evoking the balance between man and nature and sweet, clear memories...

The Gothic closer 'La leggenda del lago' (The legend of the lake) begins by the sound of a storm and a dark church organ section that conjure up the awakening of Ester, the lady of a mysterious lake. Then the music and lyrics unfold her story. Many damned men got lost in her arms, a dark figure walking in the night on the lake shores, always looking for love and never satisfied. At dawn ghosts of fire and processions of larvae escort her in her palace hidden into the deep waters of the lake where she can avoid the sunlight...

On the whole, an interesting work that deserves a try.

1. intonations problems with singing, a few times decidedly false! 2. guitar at the limit og being out of tune (especially on track 1) 3. an amalgam of musical clichés 4. unstable tempi, speeding up and unable to keep it tight. Awful drum rolls, neither always in place 5. a bag of musical styles that you can throw out randomly, without any thinking, some of it being for ex. pure rock 'n' roll having nothing to do with retro-prog flood but put together with the worst taste possible. 6. A total lack of understanding transitions in a piece, and glueing a part with another on the spot ... a weird effect!

It seems like those guys tried to make a catalog of what they like but they don't have the creativity, the chops, the flame and so on ...

The only positive thing I could pull from this cheesy bag are the sounds of the various keyboards but you have heard those vintage instruments so many times before that also THIS works like a repetition of "déjà vu" and it has nothing to do with the playing, it's just programmed!

I wonder how Beppe Crovella could accept working on .... this! A huge (SIGH) herefrom ... it has been a very long time since I heard something of such a low artistic level. Not even for completionists (the one star grading).

The self-titled eighteen minute opener combines grand symphonic prog with instantly recognizable lavish classical adaptions and similarly inspired cultured flavours. A mix of instrumental fancy and warm raspy vocal passages, Angelo Isaia supplies an army of vintage keyboards, regal organ and glorious pretty piano (and probably a little dazzling harpsichord thrown in for good measure too!), Sergio Isaia's sweetly murmuring bass is thick and upfront, Pino Atzori's drums rattle with purpose, and guitarist Fiore Colombo reveals a very distinctive rough-around-the-edges quality that is a real standout throughout the entire disc. An instant comparison is, of course, similar styled tracks from bands such as P.F.M, the New Trolls and Osanna, but closer inspection reveals a band which many more tricks up their sleeve throughout the rest of the disc...

While that opener will get most of the attention, it's when The Badge moves away from the classical interpretations that things get much more interesting, and the band reveal an eclectic range of styles and sounds, each track full of so many instrumental diversions racing off in all sorts of schizophrenic directions! Looking at some of the highlights, `Anni '70' settles into a pleasing acoustic tune with warm group alternating vocals, and especially listen out for some beautifully scratchy Mellotron and Hammond organ humming with rays of golden sunlight! `Ancora...' is a wild Osanna-like dirty guitar driven rocker that's really just an excuse for aggressive instrumental soloing - no bad thing at all! The semi-comical `Burokrat' will probably make more sense to those who speak Italian, a 70's styled plodding rocker with loopy psychedelic breaks, and the ten minute closer `La Leggenda del Lago' raises some symphonic/gothic drama with booming church organ throughout.

Sometimes the classical moments are shamelessly crowd-pleasing, but it is not merely some gimmick - this is grand Italian prog in the most theatrical, swooning manner possible, and these elements will instantly be an attraction for fans of bands like the New Trolls. But it's actually when the band step away from the classical sounds that they display plenty of original ideas all their own, and they possess endless technical skill that delivers scorching instrumental interplay with a refreshingly rough sound and strong vocal melodies with attractive harmonies. Combined, they make the forty years that it took to get ` La Relazioni Pericolose' made well worth the wait!

Four stars for what is bound to be a very popular Italian prog album in 2015!