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Quasar Lux Symphoniae - Synopsis CD (album) cover

SYNOPSIS

Quasar Lux Symphoniae

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

3.96 | 56 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

TheGazzardian
Prog Reviewer
4 stars This album is not well known at all around these parts, which in my eyes is a huge shame. After listening to it many times, I can safely say that this is my favorite RPI album from the past couple of years. When I first heard about it (after reading the only other review so far) I began hunting for it, and found the bands website, where I checked out the samples and the word "epic" quickly came into my mind.

It was a few months later when I actually finally found this album for sale somewhere, and was able to purchase it. And although it was not as epic, from front to beginning, as I remember it sounding on the website, I was thoroughly pleased with this album.

The idea behind this album was that QLS wanted a Synopsis of their career. So each track is an homage to the various sounds they'd explored in their past. Snake Dream is a nod to their hard rock era, Moses is a nod to their rock opera Abraham, etc...even the opener, Rhapsody and Fugue, is a reference to their classical music roots. As such, what we get from this album is a varied, yet refined, sound.

For the opener, I am not yet an expert on classical music so I can't say for sure that it is what it says it is, but I can say that it is an amazing way to start an album and really catchy. From there, we start in on the songs, and to me the star vocalist is Annalisa Malvasio, who has a very strong singing voice and really imparts an operatic feel on the album. Luca Vignero does the male vocals, and his are also good, although his accent is a bit more obvious to me (all the lyrics are sung in english).

Musically, there's a lot of romance on this album, especially on Arcano, Flighting Dreams, and Islemind, but this is part of what makes the album so appealing to me. The music really works excellently with Annalisa's vocals, creating some excellent drama. Really, compositionally, the music is expertly crafted and you can strongly hear the bands classical background and how it influences their rock music. I think this is a really good thing, for their use of volume, dynamic, and pacing is very strong as a result.

Snake Dream is there hard rock tribute, and it definitely features more prominent guitar than a lot of the rest of the album, but the keys and Luca's singing are equally important in its success. Much like the more romantic tracks on the album, drama is the name of the game here, and Luca gives one of his best vocal performances on the album in this track. The chorus is also hugely catchy, and will stick in your brain long after you stop listening to the track.

On Moses, the epic 15 minute track at the end of the album, it finally sunk in that all this drama that the band does so excellently was the epicness I heard on their website, and I had only tuned in to one side of it. Admittedly, this track isn't my favorite from the album, but it is really great, blending melody and the occasional odd keyboard sound to tell the story.

The band also did a really good job of selecting track order; while the songs flow into each other smoothly, they separated the most similar sounding tracks, allowing the sound to stay fresh.

One final note: it is nearly impossible to find their older albums now, so get this one before it too vanishes!

TheGazzardian | 4/5 |

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