QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE

Italian band QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE (QLS from now on) was formed back in 1976, and as far as I know, they are still an active entity to this date, which makes them a veteran band at this stage. They have 6 full-length studio albums to their name. "The Dead Dream" is the most recent of these, and was released by Lizard Records in 2012.

"The Dead Dream" is an album, I assume, will have a rather limited appeal. The music may be described as a scaled down, minimalistic version of mid '70s Eloy and Pink Floyd, focusing on slow-paced atmospheric landscapes, but without any complexities, subtle details or other touches of sophistication you'd normally find on a progressive rock album. Apart from fans of QLS, I'd say that this is a CD that might be worthwhile to check out for those who find symphonic progressive rock to be interesting but rather too challenging. Others should approach this production with some caution.

After a few years of silence Quasar Lux Symphoniae begun writing material heading to the 30th year of their existence.However this was meant to be Roberto Sgorlon's last contribution with the band, as in 2007 he jumped off board to leave the leadership of the band to Paolo Paroni.He helped though the band (which saw the arrival of Elvio Tavian and Marco Filippo on guitars along with Luca Vigneri on vocals) with the production of the new album, which was entitled ''Synopsis'' and released in 2009 by Artesuono under the acronym QLS.

''Synopsis'' is pretty much what the title states, a summary of Quasar Lux Symphoniae's trip into the music world for over 30 years and the sounds, which influenced the band.As with ''Milt'' there are tracks in a typical grandiose Symphonic Rock vein next to the Classical inspirations and operatic elements to met throughout the album, fortunately the cheesy moments of the previous work are long gone.The lovely keyboard/guitar interplays with the strong Classical flavor remain the band's trademark.Bombastic synthesizers and emotional guitar solos are also among the highlights.And the instrumental passages remain the strong point of the band.Regarding the vocal moments of the album, these show a strong operatic essence, led by symphonic orchestrations, piano interludes and the voices of Luca Vigneri and Annalisa Malvasio, the material is also nice, though far from the great instrumental parts of the album.The arrangements are well-crafted and challenging with a nice balance between emotion, melody and grandiosity, three characteristics of all Quasar Lux Symphoniae's albums.

While not containing the masterful moments of ''The Enlightening March of the Argonauts'', ''Synopsis'' is the second best album of the band so far, containing cinematic Symphonic/Classical Rock with a thrilling atmosphere, easily appreciated by dedicated fans of the style.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

Quasar Lux Symphoniae come from Udine and have been active for more than thirty years. The band began life 1976 on the initiative of Roberto Sgorlon, Umberto Del Negro and Stefano Vallan. After a first immature demo recorded in 1977 featuring psychedelic influences, The Dead Dream (later re-recorded in 1995 and finally released in 2012) and some line up changes, in 1984 Quasar Lux Symphoniae released a debut album, more hard rock oriented, Night Hymn. The nineties were the most creative period of the band that released albums such as Abraham (1994), The Enlightening March of the Argonauts (1995) and MIT (1999), more influenced by classical music. In 2009, after a long hiatus, Quasar Lux Symphoniae released a new album, Synopsis, with a renewed, extended line up featuring Paolo Paroni (keyboards, piano), Fabio Giacomello (acoustic guitar), Elvio Tavian (lead guitar), Marco Filippo (rhythm guitar), Mauro Chiapolino (bass), Fabrizio Morassutto (drums), Ulisse Tonon (keyboards), Annalisa Malvasio (vocals) and Luca Vigneri (vocals). They were helped by two founder members, Roberto Sgorlon and Umberto Del Negro, who contributed to the song-writing: the first composed the music along with Paolo Paroni while the latter wrote the lyrics of most of the songs. "Synopsis" was conceived as a kind of homage to the different styles the band went through during its long history and is the result of two years hard work in studio. The result it's excellent, the overall sound is strongly influenced by opera and classical music but maintains a well balanced sense of melody and a pulsing rock background. All the members of the band showcase a great musicianship, especially the two singers, although in my opinion the choice to sing in English could be penalising with this kind of repertoire.

The excellent instrumental opener "Rhapsody and Fugue" is a complex four-part fugue in baroque style: It's an amazing, well-crafted piece that combines rock and classical music in a perfect way and if you like works such as New Troll's "Concerto Grosso" or Il Rovescio della Medaglia's "Contaminazione" I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Next comes the dreamy, melodic "Arcano". It begins with a delicate piano pattern and soaring male vocals.... "They move and then they wait / The world tomorrow, the dark today...". Then operatic female vocals follow backed by the other instruments... "Sky is crying on me / Illusion is giving me life...". Well, to be honest the lyrics are not the strength of this piece.

The claustrophobic "Snake Dream" is a homage to the band's hard rock period. It begins with a powerful church-like organ introduction, then vocals and some good electric guitar riffs come in. The theatrical, operatic voice of Luca Vigneri is quite inspired when he invokes to be released from the fogs of a nightmare... "I feel a strange sensation, different / While in this dream, a snake rolls herself around me... I'd like to go out from here my old friend... What a fog, it's oppressing my mind...". A very good track!

"Flighting Thoughts" is built upon a Fabio Giacomello's acoustic guitar arpeggio and recalls the atmospheres of the album "MIT". The mood is almost mystical... "The flight became so difficult / While air of mystery is around us, we are the light / Giant thoughts in our time... While we exist you will dream / In every place you will be like the old stones / Hopeful and alone...".

"Oblivion" is a tribute to the early psychedelic period of the band. The music every now and again could recall Pink Floyd but with a strong classical flavour, while the amazing voice of Annalisa Malvasio invites you to follow her in another dimension, looking for new colours... "Follow me, I will be / I will be your king / Surrounding me, Oblivion...".

The melancholic "Islemind", is another melodic piece where interact male and female vocals... "People fade into the sea / As me in my world, tricking this time... I wish to feel love / I'd like to run away...".

The long, complex "Moses", is a kind of short rock opera that recalls "Abraham", the rock opera released by the band in 1994 on a double album. The vocal parts are excellent, Luca Vigneri interprets in a heartfelt, melodic way the feelings of Moses who is planning to leave Egypt... "Pharaoh! You'll burn with innocent blood! / And nothing will save you... / Between the door's pain and the moon...". An excellent finale for a very good album!

After the previous magnificent work by Quasar Lux Symphoniae expectations were really high.The main core of the band (Roberto Sgorlon, Paolo Paroni, Fabrizio Morassutto along with Fabio Giacomello and Annalisa Malvasio) remained the same, but bassist Paolo Maestrutti would leave to be replaced by Mauro Chiapolino.New member Marco Bertolissi contributed vocals on the upcoming work and Ulisse Tonon was there to help Paroni on the keyboard parts.The new album of the band ''Mit'' sees the light in 1999, this time on Mellow Records.

Why the band abandoned the unmet THE ENID-inspired grandiosity of the previous work is beyong my understanding.''Mit'' is an album with some nice pieces and great performances, but Quasar Lux Symphoniae sound less tight and inspired.Among the Symphonic Rock and Orchestral Prog parts the band decided to throw some Pop Opera elements, some easy-listening Jazz cuts and a huge amount of Folk-sounding acoustic guitars with some sort of Classical/Medieval approach.The later are not necesarily bad, the smooth atmosphere created by these soft acoustic pieces and the violin strings are more than welcome, often supported by Malvasio's operatic vocals.But the more accesible parts of the album do not help its consistency at all, a nice symph-inclined piece of music is followed by a cheap ballad to make the album fully incoherent to say the least.Still some lovely minutes of great musicianship are present.The longer tracks contain all the right things Quasar Lux Symphoniae are known for: Massive organ waves, floating synths, awesome guitar work and bombastic arrangements.And even the more Classical-influenced pieces in the vein of NEW TROLLS with the extensive string sections are pretty nice.

The result?Rather too much is going on.Hard Symphonic Rock, Classical Music, Pop Opera and Folk seem often too much to handle.Focus on the best pieces of this album and you won't regret it.Recommended, despite being a step backwards for the band.

This album is not well known at all around these parts, which in my eyes is a huge shame. After listening to it many times, I can safely say that this is my favorite RPI album from the past couple of years. When I first heard about it (after reading the only other review so far) I began hunting for it, and found the bands website, where I checked out the samples and the word "epic" quickly came into my mind.

It was a few months later when I actually finally found this album for sale somewhere, and was able to purchase it. And although it was not as epic, from front to beginning, as I remember it sounding on the website, I was thoroughly pleased with this album.

The idea behind this album was that QLS wanted a Synopsis of their career. So each track is an homage to the various sounds they'd explored in their past. Snake Dream is a nod to their hard rock era, Moses is a nod to their rock opera Abraham, etc...even the opener, Rhapsody and Fugue, is a reference to their classical music roots. As such, what we get from this album is a varied, yet refined, sound.

For the opener, I am not yet an expert on classical music so I can't say for sure that it is what it says it is, but I can say that it is an amazing way to start an album and really catchy. From there, we start in on the songs, and to me the star vocalist is Annalisa Malvasio, who has a very strong singing voice and really imparts an operatic feel on the album. Luca Vignero does the male vocals, and his are also good, although his accent is a bit more obvious to me (all the lyrics are sung in english).

Musically, there's a lot of romance on this album, especially on Arcano, Flighting Dreams, and Islemind, but this is part of what makes the album so appealing to me. The music really works excellently with Annalisa's vocals, creating some excellent drama. Really, compositionally, the music is expertly crafted and you can strongly hear the bands classical background and how it influences their rock music. I think this is a really good thing, for their use of volume, dynamic, and pacing is very strong as a result.

Snake Dream is there hard rock tribute, and it definitely features more prominent guitar than a lot of the rest of the album, but the keys and Luca's singing are equally important in its success. Much like the more romantic tracks on the album, drama is the name of the game here, and Luca gives one of his best vocal performances on the album in this track. The chorus is also hugely catchy, and will stick in your brain long after you stop listening to the track.

On Moses, the epic 15 minute track at the end of the album, it finally sunk in that all this drama that the band does so excellently was the epicness I heard on their website, and I had only tuned in to one side of it. Admittedly, this track isn't my favorite from the album, but it is really great, blending melody and the occasional odd keyboard sound to tell the story.

The band also did a really good job of selecting track order; while the songs flow into each other smoothly, they separated the most similar sounding tracks, allowing the sound to stay fresh.

One final note: it is nearly impossible to find their older albums now, so get this one before it too vanishes!

4.5 stars actually...

After the succesful effort of the rock opera ''Abraham'',key minds of QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE Paolo Paroni and Roberto Sgorlon continued on working on the band's second album.For this release bassist Italo Cigainero got off the board with new member Paolo Maestrutti jumping on,while female vocalist Annalisa Malvasio kept her place on the line-up.Now, with a much reduced personel,QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE presented their sophomore album ''The Enlightening March of the Argonauts'' in 1996,again on Music is Intelligence.

Not much have changed since the group's debut two years ago.''The waning season'' opens greatly much in THE ENID vein with nice Classical parts and Sgorlon delivers some fine HACKETT-ish guitar work,but the vocals seem over the top due to their heavy theatrical approach.''Prayers of the Highland'' is a some sort of a prog-ballad with good semi- acoustic passages,balanced vocals and a great solo at the end,which hopefully could last forever.Is it Robert John Godfrey opening for ''The Resonance of the Throne''...No,it's Paolo Paroni offering great classical piano parts in the vein of THE ENID,encouraged later by the operatic vocals of Malvasio,before the track turns to a symphonic heaven full of grandiosity with sharp synths and fantastic guitars close to MINIMUM VITAL's Thierry Payssan.Excellent!

Unfortunately on ''The Punishment of the Submerged'' the band spoils its good image.Weak vocals and an awful rhytmic rock tune isn't what I expect from them and what saves the track is its great middle section with light interplays between the acoustic guitars and the electric jazzy ones.THE ENID's ghost is back on the long ''Five Fathers Resurrection'',where Paroni's dreamy classical piano parts play a dominant role along with his flashy and dramatic synthesizers,interupted only at parts by Sgorlon's balanced voice and his well-crafted solos.Awesome and highly emotional stuff once again!A symphonic/spacey intro opens for the eponymous track with keyboards/synths creating a cosmic yet classical 4-min. long atmosphere.For the rest of the track Paroni takes over with his piano,accompanied by Sgorlon's relaxed vocals,before the GENESIS--like electric solo outro where Sgorlon saves the best for last!

Having a better vocalist or simply leaving the fourth track out of the album,''The Enlightening March of the Argonauts'' would easily flirt with the ''masterpiece'' consideration...but again four magnificent tracks out of possible six are too many to ignore this album.If you love the Classical side of Prog filled with atmospheric harmonies and a grandiose approach to melody,then this album is certainly your thing.Personally I had to listen to such a good blending of Classical music and prog rock since my time listening to THE ENID's albums.Well done!

I didn't expect after Mit there would be anything new, but then there was... Synopsis! Amazing stuff, as QLS describes in their nice artworked booklet: an 'evolution with a special emphasis on the past styles'. I don't know if they worked 10 years like Boston to secure their quality, but it could well be: this is not only classical, operatic and melodic in quiet and fierce waves as we know it from the band, this is also their best production until now. Of course, the Italian English is still there (and I love it) and the something 'raw' in their performance, as well known from earlier albums too, but it isn't too obvious anymore. And I says, if you need to start, start with this album, you'll have the most accessable of QLS's discography. There's no bad song, the first is an instrumental rock fugue, I can't tell if it's technically right, but it sounds like that. It's proof right in the beginning where this band is capable of. My favorite, I have to confess, is at the end: the Moses epic (15 minutes), walking with the music amongst the pyramides, angry screeming at the Pharaoh and at last into the open dessert. It took me some time to get this album (via the website in the end), but it was worth the waiting. This album will stand the test of time: all stars, not because there are no weak parts, but because the repeat button asks for it.

A strange story behing the project called QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE,as they were found in 1976 by (then drummer,later guitarist) Roberto Sgorlon,but the key figures would join the band a little bit later.The tapes of their first work ''Dead dream'' from 1977 were lost and in early 80's Fabrizio Morassutto would join them.A melodic hard rock album called ''Night hymn'' would be released in 1984,but soon they turned to a more classical-inspired sound,strengthened by the addition of young organist/composer Paolo Paroni.

In 1994 QUASAR LUX SYMPHONIAE released the ambitious Christan-based concept work ''Abraham'',an album containing lots of classical-influenced progressive rock parts,surrounded by a few singer-characters,who played the appropriate roles.The work seems to be standing somewhere between melodic symphonic progressive rock and classical and renaissance music with baroque influences.There are some trully bombastic moments with fiery guitars and driving organ to create a unique hard/progressive sound,filled with aggresive-like,intense vocals.These moments are paused by little suites,containing classical piano parts,usually female choirs,sometimes there is also presence of ultra-melodic guitars and weird synth effects.The overall feeling will travel you back in time in the age of rennaisance,bringing to mind bands in the style MINIMUM VITAL in the alternating guitar/keyboards moments or E.L.P in the bombastic ones,and even THE ENID in the pure classical approach.So,if you like keyboard-driven progressive rock with classical doses,you should purchase this album as soon as possible.A well-crafted and trully interesting project!

The vocal department from this band has always been a problem. Roberto Sorglon was really poor and he is this time associated with Annalisa Malvasio who already sung in one song on their prior album. This is for the best of this work, because she is more involved and to be honest, Roberto also sounds better here (but it was easy).

This being said, this album is a suite of short pieces which leaves me a bit hungry. The first A song (from a total of three) features a fine vocal from Annalisa. The tone is quite usual here: her voice is truly powerful on this jazzy piano oriented song. But it sounds as unfinished, cut down.

Le Refuge Du Temps starts with a fine and very high pitched vocalize part and switches to some neo- prog flavour (it won't be the sole example). The highlight is the work from Annalisa.

There are lots of classical touches (there is a string quartet invited as guests) like during A (the second one) but not only. When you add this feature to the fact that Annalisa has a brilliant but opera oriented voice, it only completes the picture (Le Refuge Du Temps or the short The Voice of the Highland for example).

My favourite track is also one of the longest from Mit: The Search holds all the elements of a neo- symphonic song: strong synths with moving and at times furious guitar. It includes again English lyrics which is a tradition for this Italian band.

As usual, some instrumental passages are brilliant like in The Lord Of Fire but these can't raise the level of this album to a four star rating as far as I am concerned. This album is fine to listen to; there aren't any annoying parts (which was the case in their previous albums, but it was due to the vocals).

It is an album that doesn't captivate though: you listen to it, it is fine but you won't remember any great piece of music. As soon as it ends, it is already almost forgotten. My favourite instrumental is the sweet and melodic Flowing down the River but The Silent Breath is pleasant as well: a smooth blend of acoustic guitar and strings. A bit sad, perhaps.

The music represented during Mit is a very soft symphonic one. Even if Glance Of Giada is a bit more upbeat. The synthesizers are providing some neo-prog touches to this longer than average tune (over seven minutes).

This album is a good companion for a moment of tranquillity during your week-end. Quite alright actually on this Sunday morning.

Three stars.

I was only moderately enthusiast about the debut album from this Italian band. A double CD concept about the life of Abraham. This album is at times linked with classic music and I have to add that the vocal performance of Roberto Salgon is far to be impressive: actually he is so poor during the opening number "The Waning Present" that he completely ruins it.

It is a pity because most of the instrumental parts are rather good (just listen to the excellent finale during the short "Prayers of the Highland". At times, this album is also related with opera. While I say so, I refer to the track "Resonance of the Throne".

This feeling is due to the vocal work from Annalisa Malvasio. She has a fantastic voice, that's for sure and she would have replaced Salgon for the best of this album but she sounds too theatrical IMO. But this bombastic song is probably one of the best you can expect from this album.

The next song is funnily titled "The Punishment Of The Submerged": it is true that these vocals are quite a punishment! I really don't understand how the band decided to get this guy on board to perform the lead singing role; and he will still be featured on their next album...

The same type of comments is valid for the two last songs from this album as well. A classic and light piano intro for "Five Fathers Resurrection" combined with a bombastic and brilliant guitar play. For once, dear friend Salgon doesn't try to force his voice and sings quietly. This is much more bearable. There is a definite Renaissance feel in this long song. It is by far the best one from this album: if only they could have released more of this calibre (even if Salgon is back with his dreadful vocal performance during the closing part).

The title and closing track is sad and repetitive; mostly instrumental (thank god!): it is a very cold and dark number (but this can be related in the storyboard of this concept album which has already been outlined). It would have been great if Roberto would have shut for a minute or so.

To cut a long story short, this should have been a very good album but thanks to their lead vocalist it is only worth three stars (which still means that it is a good album).