AVENOTH

1. "Intro 2161" (2:06) A space-textured interlude with all kinds of tape loops of historic statements strung along over the top. (4.25/5)

2. "Ouverture" (2:03) a nice instrumental Neo Prog intro/interlude. (4.5/5)

3. "Contro Luna e Luce" (4:11) a slowly developing 1970s GENESIS-like tune with Italian lyrics sung in a fairly typical RPI bombast over the top. (8.5/10)

4. "La Suite dei Tre Pianeti" (17:43) opens with a soft steady three minutes with calm, steady singing. This is followed by a transition into a section with a full URIAH HEEP-like sound palette. At 3:30 this shifts into something speedy but then quickly dies down at 4:00 to a quiet Hammond organ church sound with Roye Albrighton lead guitar picking over the top. AT 5:00 another shift into a kind of PINK FLOYD mode. More nice slowly developing sustained lead guitar work before another bridge at 6:12 which is followed by an extended "Hey, You"-like sequence of 12-string guitar chord arpeggi with other things happening over and above. At 8:45 we segue into a section supported by some aggressive music with very (over?)active drums. This is a very strong, repetitive guitar riff over which singer and several keyboard instruments and even the drums get to solo for over three minutes. At 12:00 things stop and a similar Hammond riff sets up the next, still aggressive theme. This time the electric guitar once again gets to explore a long solo with his sustain and volume pedal before the keys take it back over. At 13:45 things empty out and slow down again--this time plodding along with bass in the lead riff, added by Hammond and MiniMoog before jazzy piano takes over the fast paced baseline riff at 14:45. This is all too much like EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER (perhaps a bit heavier), just endless show for the instrumentalists with very little making sense or reason to me. Very accomplished musicianship and composition just not sustaining its interest or meaning. (30.5/35) - a) Il Pianeta Vuoto - soft (4/5) - b) Due Gambe Come Noi - mercurial (9/10) - c) Il Pianeta Ostile - heavy/aggressive (8.75/10) - d) Voyager 1977 - still heavy & aggressive (8.75/10)

5. "Avenoth" (8:12) a patchwork of diverse and mercurial themes and dynamics that works very nicely. (13.5/15)

6. "La Festa" (3:59) opens like an attempt at replicating an older musical form with "antique" sounding instruments, but then in the second minute the prog instruments enter and keep up the near-pagan/Celtic feel. (8.5/10)

7. "Antico" (2:29) a classical guitar solo (and later, duet) that feels like something straight off of ANTHONY PHILLIPS' Private Part & Pieces III: Antiques (4.5/5)

8. "La Deportazione degli Avenothiani" (9:55) slow, steady, and firm establishment of a heavy, somewhat aggressive Neo Prog palette, with chunky bass play and great drumming while keys and guitars play around over the top. Vocalist Fabrizio Marziani enters at the three-minute mark singing a very typical RPI vocal. At 4:00 a slow space unfolds held together by sustained Hammond chords, military snare drumming, chunky bass melody and HACKETT- like volume pedal guitar notes soloing over the top. When things ramp back up at 5:15, Roberto Bucci's guitar becomes more prominent and forceful before giving way to the Hammond for a spell. Roberto gets another extended solo in the seventh and eight minutes while the music builds beneath him. Then, at 7:50, a 'tron and rolling Hammond base setup a MiniMoog solo that takes us to the song's finish. So GENESIS/TONY BANKS! A great prog epic. (19/20)

9. "La Rivolta - Il Massacro dei Terrestri" (12:55) one cannot deny the tightness of this band, the dedication to their craft, the number of hours they must have put into the composition, construction, adaptation, arrangement, and performance of these songs--especially one like this with so much going on at breakneck speed and on so many levels and layers. The theme commenced in the sixth minute is a step back--a chance for the band members to "rest" and regroup. By 6:40 we are launched forward again, in full, though not quite as high-geared as the opening five minutes. Keyboard maestri Jimmy Bax and Massimo Di Paola are surely having a field day with their synthesizer and organ dueling. At 8:45 the music cuts out for Jimmy to establish a new, very deliberate theme using his raspy Hammond. Very intricate syncopation ensues for the whole band to ahve to kowtow to before Mellotron and searing electric guitar enter to steer the band through the trouble. Another great prog epic. (25/25) 10. "Perduto Avenoth" (5:48) an very thickly "orchestrated" organ dirge that sets up a bluesy foundation over which lead guitar and some MiniMoog get to show their stuff. Standout guitar soloing. It is amazing that some artists can "orchestrate" a song like this--with computer keyboards--and fool me into thinking that it's actually an orchestra. Well met! (8.75/10)

11. "Reprise (Speranze Distorte)" (10:23) acoustic guitars picking away with a little bass, rising church organ, and DUANE ALLMAN-like guitar. Several different motifs are explored, most of them in a similarly methodical pacing, allowing for slower, more prominent exposure of individual instruments--both background and foreground. This is good stuff! And the themes that are recapitulated are memorable and, thus, recognizable and welcomed-- something that not all symphonic arrangements can say. A slow, spacious section in the seventh minute that is founded in picked and then strummed acoustic guitar, is, for me, quite reminiscent of LE ORME's Felona e Sorona. It's beautiful (and so 1970s feeling). In the ninth minute the Mellotron-drenched prog ensemble returns, albeit slowly, gradually, with piano now taking over and amplifying the acoustic guitar's arpeggi--but the, rather suddenly, at 9:20 a fast arpeggiating Hammond organ takes over and speeds us to the end. A fairly perfect symphonic prog song--now and then! (20/20)

Total time: 77:39

A-/five stars; a masterpiece; an essential album for any prog lover's music collection. This album may present the single best Italian band to ever create prog epics.

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