LA PRIMAVERA DEI SORDI

In the second half of the Seventies I bought my first Classic Italian Progrock albums: Banco their eponymous fifth album (aka V) and the Italian version of The World Became The World by PFM, this was the start for my Italian progrock fascination. I was blown away by the mindblowing blend of great vocals, virtuosic work on guitar and keyboards and adventurous, dynamic and varied compositorial skills. In the late Eighties and early Nineties I was very pleased with the Japanese and Italian record labels that released cascades of Classic Italian progrock gems on CD, from albums by Museo Rosenbach and Corte Dei Miracoli to Panna Freda and Semiramis. It turned out that the USA progrock labels Laser's Edge and Syn-Phonic were my gateway to Prog Heaven. In that era I started to write for Dutch progrock paper SI Magazine and soon I discovered that the Italian progrock scene was still alive and proggin' when we received lots of promo CD's from bands like Il Castello Di Atlante, Abiogenesi, Nuova Era and Calliope, again I was In Prog Heaven! Early 2004 I started to write for Prog Archives, one of the first things I did was writing about all those old and new Italian progrock bands and adding Classic Italian Progrock like Rustichelli & Bordini and Cherry Five. Unfortunately the following years it was a bit poor and I started to focus on the very prolific progrock scene in Latin- America (from Nexus to William Gray). But since last year I have hope with new Italian progrock bands like Moongarden, Hostsonaten, Ainur, Il Baccio Della Medusa and .... I Pennelli Di Vermeer, what a stunning debut CD!

I Pennelli Di Vermeer (the name is derived from our famous painter Johannes Vermeer) is rooted in 2002, in 2007 they released the mine-CD Tramedannata and one year later the debut CD entitled La Primavera Dei sordi. During my first listening session I was blown away, what a varied and unique prog this is with an important role for the vocals, from an opera-like female voice to theatrical vocal harmonies or even a small children choir. The variety in the 10 compositions is great: a tango-like rhythm in the first track Tre cadaveri nel cassetto, "Madness meets The Shadows" in the cheerful Manifesto 70 x 100, wonderful interplay between violin and Grand piano in Cinque minuti...una notte, a Hawkwind-like atmosphere with a hypnotizing beat and synthesizer beeps and bleeps in S.K.L.ero, vintage keyboards (Farfisa - and Hammond organ and flute-Mellotron) and a wide range of singers in Luce and a synthesizer sound in the vein of The Stranglers (late Eighties-era) and a spectacular synthesizer solo in Incuboinuncubo. My highlights are the two most 'traditional progrock efforts': an intro with warm vocals and twanging acoustic guitar, then a slow rhythm featuring wonderful work on violin with soaring organ and excellent male and female vocals in Nel giardino di belzebu' and sumptuous church organ and howling guitar in the alternating Carogna.

If you are up to an adventurous progrock journey (this music will not be everybody's cup of tea), check out this genuine progrock effort by a very unique new Italian band, what a thrill that 30 years after the Classic Italian Prog-era, a new Italian band succeeds to present such an unique, daring and adventurous prog, a big hand for I Penneli Di Vemeer!

Thanks to my Dutch PA friend Angelo for his recommendation.

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