LYCANTHROPE

I never heard of Mangala Vallis and to be honest I'm not to fond of Italian prog. But since this is not typical Italian symphonic prog I gave it a try. It ended up as an experience with mixed feelings. Summarizing I would like to say: the disappointment are the vocals, the positive aspect are the compositions.

But this is typical an album of which you'd better judge every individual song. 1. Echo absolute: not a very impressive opener, not much is happening there 1 star 2. Cosmotrafficjam: the first confrontation with the voice. This is not my cup of tea, instrumentally ok. 3 stars 3. Call me alias: the ballad of the album but not the kind of ballad I like. 2 stars 4. Lycanthroparty: somewhat heavier but not too impressive alltogether 2.5 stars 5. Hum/animal song: short song of not so much importance 2 stars 6. The boy that howls at the moon: by far the best song of the album, great guitar work and brilliant composition 4.5 stars 7. The mask: a bit like the previous but less. 4- stars 8. The transparant and the obscure: a quiet song with a large vocal contribution, not my thing really 2.5 stars

So that explains my mixed feelings and it's thanks to the 6th song that I still give it three stars, 2.5 is closer to the truth.