PARANORM - OPERA TOTALE

Malleus, aka Enrico Ragni, is an artist from Fabriano, Italy. He appears to be less than prolific in terms of album releases, but he has other irons in the fire, notably running a studio and being an expert in the ancient art calligraphy. Opera Totale is certainly an interesting entry to ProgArchives, a single 47-minute instrumental piece that deserves to be better known than the obscurity from which it currently resides. From just a surface-level glance of reading about him, he strikes me as a self-made eccentric not unlike Antonio Bartoccetti in the sense that he has a grandiose sense of expression, is described using words like esoteric, psycho-music, paranormal activity, and creating music based on "research" into psychology and other fields. From a sound perspective however, he doesn't project the same dark or occult fascination that Bartoccetti did. The music of Malleus seems to be more light than dark.

The notes say that Malleus employed nearly a thousand people from different backgrounds in the creation of this single work which took over a decade to compose and two more years to record. And it certainly sounds like it. Massive in scope, constructed in painstaking detail, and nearly impossible to truly absorb in just a few spins, this is one of those albums one should plan on giving time to decode and appreciate. As sprawling as one of Mike Oldfield or Vangelis's grandest recordings, with touches of the unusual ala Opus Avantra or Pholas Dactylus, and falling perhaps somewhere near modern classical music, Opera Totale is a feast that doesn't wish to be pigeonholed. While a keyboard-led album I suppose, any and every instrument, sample, and sound is employed to build up this drama that has a hugely theatrical personality, like a strange orchestral score to a bizarre film. The vocals are wordless buy they are just wonderful throughout, both the lead vocalist Donatella Duranti and the choir vocals. Last, ambient sound is used to help add moods and plot to the affair: wind, rain, church bells in the distance, birds and insects chirp away.

While it doesn't sound like RPI and is nearly impossible to put neatly into a genre box, I eventually fell for Opera Totale wholeheartedly. I say eventually because it did take some time for me to get there. It's not one of those albums you "get" on the second play. It requires patience for the beauty to unfold, not unlike the way Topographic Oceans or Incantations demands fans of easily-accessible prog-rock slow down and assume the musical lotus position. Enjoy the journey.

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