INSOLITARIAMENTE

A new Italian band,who were formed in 1998 in Bergamo by Alfio and Flavio Costa after the demise of their previous band ''Prowlers''.TILION were named after the moon's name in J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Silmarillion'',a big resource for prog musicians all around the world.Summer 99' finds TILION supporting ''Deep Purple'' on their show in Pontoglio, with a demo-document of this performance coming out the same year.Another demo called ''Suoni'' was published the next year, distributed by Musea Records, until in 2003 the band releases their first full-length album on Mellow Records.

''Insolitariamente'' is a weird album:an unorthodox mix of dark complex prog and heavy Symphonic Rock with Jazz and even Avant-Garde touches here and there.The sound constantly alternates between romantic mellow passages and frenetic guitar-driven complicated themes from moment to moment.Flavio Costa delivers some decent yet heavy melodies with his guitar,but mostly his work has an evident KING CRIMSON-esque complex sound with sudden breaks and jazzy chords,a master of his instrument indeed.Even some piano parts in here create a haunting feeling in an improvisational mood,while the mightly mellotron is quite similar to ANEKDOTEN's approach.Italian Prog fanatics should not get dissapointed.The old,vintage and delicate Italian prog style is also present in the smoother moments,dominated by nice Hammond organ orgasms, moog acrobatics, warm vocal lines and well-crafted symphonic arrangements,recalling LE ORME and BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO.What is a bit out of the Italian approach are the modern distorted vocal techniques,while this blending of so many different styles is not always succesful,especially on the longer tracks.

However,this album contains plenty of trully interesting moments and definitely TILION are a band with unquestionable talent and a strong delivery on composing and song- writing.''Insolitariamente'' is a quite good album,which will satisfy music fans of different styles,while TILION are the new member on the list with modern prog bands we should keep an eye on.