FELONA E SORONA

Of all The most-recognised RPI records, this is the proggiest. Crazy technical, rapidly changing in mood, style, signature, and tempo, and highly conceptual, this makes for what ought to be a quintessential prog album. And by golly, it is! The concept is about two planets that orbit each other, one the beautiful Felona, and one the dark, under shadowed Sorona. The album consists of nine tracks, each amazing in their own way. The first is 'Sospesi Nell'Incredibile', which translates in English to "in between''. It's a mini-suite of sorts, an interstellar journey through heavy synth- and percussion-led passages of pure prog concentrate. The second is the first of many interludes in this album, entitled 'Felona', a beautiful (fittingly) one-minute acoustic ballad with a slow build to blow one away. The third track: 'La Solitudine Di Chi Protegge Il Mondo' (The Loneliness of Those Who Protect the World'), a somber, short, and beautiful song, but not an interlude, per se, wonderfully leads into the next track: the much heavier' L'Equilbrio', or "the balance". This feels like a fusion of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Tangerine Dream, more on the ELP side. Extremely intense; short but good. 'Sorona', the fifth track and second interlude on this album, an electro-acoustic belt-out for the vocalist that aptly captures the pain Sorona experiences. 'Attesa Inerte' is a Hammond-led synthy groovefest, and unfortunately one of my least favorite songs on this album. 'Ritratto Di Un Mattino', or 'portrait of a morning' is a step back into the amazing. It begins slow, melodic, empty, then in a seemingly triumphant transition (I don't know, I can't understand the lyrics as they're sung in Italian), builds into a proggy, technically impressive, yet altogether beautiful ensemble segment, where every instrument gets to play. The song finishes with piano and leads into the soothing guitar intro of 'All'infuori Del Tempo', or "outside/out of time", is a bit more happy, but the lack of the heavy drums that you hear on the rest of the albums brings the song down. 'Ritorno Al Nulla', in English "return to nothing/naught", is the unintentionally melodramatic, yet still wonderful closing to the album. It is extremely high-octane, drum-heavy and technical.Something to make a proghead smile. Overall, this is a wonderful album. I'm appalled at myself for not reviewing this sooner ? this is stellar! In my research, I found a few cool coincidences and fun facts surrounding this album, like: in Malagasy (the national language of Madagascar), Felona means 'felon', and Sorona means 'sacrifice'. Also, (this shouldn't surprise anyone, but it's news to me, but) Peter Hammill of Van Der Graaf Generator wrote and translated the lyrics for the English version of this album, which I might just give a spin next. To wrap it up, this was a great record. Definitely worth any progger's time, and possibly a mainstay in my extensive catalogue of 'come-back-to-later' records. A new favorite in the RPI subgenre. Prog on.

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