Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Gran Torino - grantorinoProg CD (album) cover

GRANTORINOPROG

Gran Torino

 

Heavy Prog

3.52 | 33 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

apps79
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Italian group Gran Torino hails from Verona and started back in 2000 as a cover band, giving it a try to Hard/Heavy Rock classics produced by legends such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.Over the years though they developed a more prog-inclined repertoire and with the formation of Cristiano Pallaoro on guitar, Alessio Pieri on keyboards, Gian Maria Roveda on drums and Fabrizio Visentini on bass they recorded their debut at Sotto il Mare Records and Gocce Musicali Recording, both placed in their hometown.Entitled ''GrantorinoProg'', the first album of the group was released on Galileo Records.

The title of the album maybe sounds very simplistic and even cheesy, but the music in ''GrantorinoProg'' is exactly the opposite.This is fairly complex, highly rhythmic and intricate Heavy Prog with massive riffs, powerful grooves, tons of twists and big symphonic keyboards.Additionally the group shows a high respect to the Classic Prog era with the extended use of Hammond organ, delivering dynamic waves and long, irritating runs.The music is all instrumental, divided in ten rather short tracks, but the group manages to fill these 5 or 6 minutes with compressed, interesting ideas, ranging from tapping, extremely energetic rhythms, sudden shifting tempos in an quasi-Fusion enviroment and a discreet symphonic aura in the more grandiose synth passages, close to the sound of EXPLORERS CLUB.The whole amalgam is very close to Americans VISUAL CLIFF, eventually offering a balanced effort of memorable tunes, good technique and atmospheric textures.Even for fans of intricate Prog Metal there is something to like in here, as plenty of the guitar moves sound quite metallic and the keyboard work has a few in common with a mass of Symphonic Metal bands at moments.Gran Torino though never forget to deliver a nice melodic part here and there, thus satisfying the listener of less intricate and more melodious musical themes.

Definitely a group to follow.Gran Torino's debut offers an incredible instrumental flexibility, wrapped in a nice Heavy Prog package full of dramatic and atmospheric performances.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

apps79 | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this GRAN TORINO review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.