ZARATHUSTRA

This could be the representative album of the RPI! The magnitude as a concept album exceeds the limits of the mundane and elevates the spirit to a very high degree of inner strength and motivation. A piece completely dedicated to a part of Nietzsche's work.

The 20-minute, 5-part opening suite Zarathustra occupies the entire first side of the disc, and by far the most entertaining and powerful side of the album. Everything about this piece is wonderful: the lyrics and their transcendental meaning, the conjunction of the instruments, the growing euphoria provided by the thrusts of the drums and the keyboards... The only poor thing about the album is the production, but in the face of such majestic compositions, it really doesn't matter. In fact, it's likely that the sonic unevenness and over-equalisation (cave sound) were deliberate.

Side 2 is a state of grandeur just like side 1. It begins peacefully with "Degli Uomini", a light and airy song in comparison to Zarathustra, with a passing mellotron and a sound closer to classic rock.

"Della Natura" works perfectly as an intermediary between "Degli Uomini" and "Dell'Eterno Ritorno" (the next song and the one that closes the album). This song is twice as long as the previous one and maintains the frenzy with a lot of power and rage. Let's not forget that the lyrics are a very important aspect of this album. All this instrumental vehemence (especially from the organ) is in constant growth during the beginning and middle of the song until then it all dies down and the vocals play a deep and sentimental role.

The last song "Dell'Eterno Ritorno" is, for me, the highlight of side 2. The album closes as it has to close! An instrumental blast with a lot of British flair (I'd say 30%). There's not a second where that euphoria is lost. The closing is subtle and at the same time very correctly powerful.

In short, it's an album to listen to dozens of times and squeeze all its genius out of it until you don't want to listen to it any more (although I doubt that will happen to you). When in less than 40 minutes there are hundreds of ideas implemented with such intelligence, it means that it is a musical work worthy of great respect. Straight into a top 3 of italian prog albums!