DIAMANTI

"Diamanti" is the second album by Mad Crayon and was released in 1999 on the independent Mellow Records label with a renewed line up featuring Alessandro Di Benedetti (keyboards, piano, vocals), Daniele Agostinelli (keyboards, vocals), Federico Tetti (electric guitars, sax), Daniele Vitalone (bass, electric guitar), Luca Cleri (acoustic and electric guitar) plus Stefano Crudele (drums), Simone Durante (Hammond organ), Monica Ward (vocals) and Eleonora Ricci (vocals). In my opinion, it confirms all the good qualities of the debut work and even marks a step forward for the band. This time all the lyrics are in Italian and the vocal parts sound more confident while the music tries to explore new territories with original compositions, a great sense of melody and fresh ideas...

The nervous opener "La ballata dell'uomo nudo" (The ballad of the naked man) describes in music and words the feelings you can experience in a restless night where darkness steals your breaths, unveils your silences, turns up your cards and undresses your soul without mercy, leaving you in front of a light that shows your nakedness. All you have to do is heeding the call of fantasy and follow its course heading up towards the sky...

The reflective, melancholic "Deserti" (Deserts) tells in music and words about an inner desert that the protagonist carries inside him everywhere he goes and evokes distant voices dancing on the horizon, mirages of love and painful memories...

Then it's the turn of the beautiful instrumental "Glorioso destino" (Glorious destiny), a dynamic piece full of positive energy that leads to the dreamy "Pioggia di fiori" (Rain of flowers) where delicate acoustic guitar arpeggios and soaring melodies invite you to leave behind fake smiles and ephemeral pleasures to embark on a boat and sail through a calm sea, over the clouds, under a soft rain of flowers. An old man smiles at you... Welcome on board!

The excellent instrumental title track, "Diamanti" (Diamonds), blends romantic atmospheres and more aggressive passages and leads to "L'allegra brigata" (The merry brigade), a long, complex piece dedicated to all the friends of the band. It starts softly as the story comes to life from the ashes of reality and takes off on the wings of fantasy while the music and lyrics conjure up a fantastic voyage on a ship sailing across an unknown sea in search for the treasures of youth with a merry crew always open to adventure...

"Principe delle maree" (Prince of the tides) is a kind of celebration of the power of music and the healing force of singing. You have to set your heart free and follow the rhythm of the tide, then you'll take off on an imaginary flight across mysterious lands and Oriental landscapes leaving behind the daily problems of a hostile reality... The short, evocative "Alchimia di una leggenda" (Alchemy of a legend) ends the album with a kind of tribute of the art of cinema. Narrative female vocals raise questions about the greatness and the righteousness of a man who conceives kingdoms of death and boasts his victories in front of those who cry, a man under the rain looks for shelter... Director, do not stop, please!

On the whole, a very good album full of melody and dreamy atmospheres.