TUNNEL

A young group from Vicenza, basically found in a basement of a local house in an evening of 1975, where the future members had been gathered.The documents and texts reveal the fact that the band was playing in an amateur level with local gigs and occasional jam gatherings, but in 1981 they decided to record and release an independent LP.The musician were Alberto Cazzola on keyboards, Paolo Fin on drums, Claudio Liotto on piano/vocals, Lucio Negretto on bass and Andrea Zanatta on guitar, adding Enrico Kotterl on Solina strings for the upcoming sessions.The album was titled ''Tunnel''.

The front cover might confuse a buyer for ''Tunnel'' being closer to a Hard Rock or Heavy Metal album, but the album was actually a refined Symphonic Rock with lots of Pop elements and a typical 80's production, where the synthesizer and piano have replaced the analog keyboards, while the symphonic arrangements of the period bands have become very polished and even radio-friendly.So the point was to produce some decent and memorable music and Abissi Infiniti were quite good on it, they appear to be influenced by PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI and BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, as their compositions contained lots of keyboards and piano interludes next to the elaborate guitar parts.Of course this is 1981 and the tracks contain also hints of Italian Soft Rock and Pop, but even so every piece has at least one interesting moment, either it's a beautiful, GENESIS-spiced guitar solo or some well-crafted keyboard themes with symphonic overtones.The music is at a good level with some acoustic breaks among the electric pieces, on the other hand some weak synth moves and the ultra-sweet vocals are not among the album's highlights plus some of the pieces sound not properly developed.But the unique Italian atmosphere is always there and the tracks contain plenty of beautiful melodies.

So, this band was just made for fun and only Enrico Kotterl was involved in another Italian Prog album with songwriting credits, Gli Apostholi's ''Un'isola senza sole''.No question, he wrote all the lyrics for Abissi Infiniti's sole output and continued to work as a graphic designer.

Reissue out on Mellow Records and file next to GUERCIA and ATON'S.Melodic, semi-symphonic Italian Prog with a balanced atmosphere, romantic climates and decent arrangements, far from personal or outstanding.Recommended.