IL BACIO DELLA MEDUSA

Having already heard Il Bacio Della Medusa's excellent second album, Discesa Agl'Inferi D'un Giovane Amante, I was a bit disappointed with their 2004 self-titled debut. Discesa is a superb album that is full of variety and invention whereas the debut is a fairly ordinary hard rock album, albeit that it incorporates some progressive and folk elements. To me a lot of the tracks here just sound too similar, with thrashing guitar and heavy drums dominating much of the album.

Requiem Per I Condannati A Morte sets the tone with the aforementioned style of guitar and drums accompanied by harsh-sounding treated vocals, although things improve with the acoustic second part of the song. Orienteoccidente is more of the same heavy rock, but the Queen influence near the end of this track is good. There's a pleasant change of atmosphere with the opening section of the four-part Scorticamento Di Marsia. This is the longest track on the album at just short of the 15-minute mark, and Eva Morelli's flute-play is wonderful throughout. Simone Cecchini's vocals constantly change from right to left channels during this song; this idea is slightly overdone as the same technique was used on the previous track. The closing section features guest musician Angelo Petri's soprano and alto saxophones combining with flute in a funky groove that reminds me of some of Lalo Schifrin's 1970's television theme music.

Il Vino begins promisingly with accordion and charango, something like a South American ukulele. Simone Brozzetti's electric guitar even sounds mellow, although it still has a metal tone that is in danger of overkill on this album. We finally get a taste of the band's real potential with Cantico Del Poeta Errante. This is a lovely flute-led acoustic ballad that even includes some Spanish-sounding rhythms. The album finishes with De Luxuria, Et De Ludo, Et De Taberna. This song features mandolin and excellent percussion, and later there's some psychedelic organ along with syncopated drums. Drummer Diego Petrini presumably plays the organ, as he was responsible for the keyboards on the second album.

This album lacks the mature compositions and arrangements of the band's later work. There are some nice moments but what we have is, in the main, straightforward heavy rock. This disc also suffers due to an overall lack of variety in the instrumentation; violinist Daniele Rinchi had yet to join at this point and Petrini's superb keyboards are all too scarce. As stated in the first paragraph, the band's second album is excellent and would be a better choice if you were new to the band. Il Bacio Della Medusa is an exciting contemporary band and there's nothing wrong with this album in itself. However in my opinion it's one for fans of the band and RPI collectors only, so 2 stars only I'm afraid.