REWOTOWER

The music of the Italian band Profusion can be characterized as melodic heavy prog rock with light vocals, featured by frequent use of odd time signatures, mostly 5/4 and 7/4, catchy choruses and a wide range of influences from different musical styles. Rewotower is their second album, being the first release in six years.

The album starts in an up-tempo 7/4 with "Ghost House", a catchy and accessible track that gives a quick impression of what this album is about.

"Taste of Colours" is a track with both light and heavy passages, divided in two parts. The first part has many time signature changes, the second part features a guitar solo backed up by keyboards.

The vocals in the first half of "Treasure Island" may be way over the top and sound almost annoying at first hearing, yet the song is saved from mediocrity by the keyboards and strong composition.

"So Close But Alone" is a mellow, jazzy track with a bit of Brazilian influence and some scatting. I use to be quite indifferent towards this style, but it is well places at this point of the album.

Hereafter follow the twin peaks of the album, the songs I am really enthousiastic about: "Tkeshi/Chuta Chani" and "The Tower". "Tkeshi" starts with what I guess is a traditional Georgian instrument, backed up by strings. The song ends with some sort of tribal chanting. It does not even hit the two-minute mark, but that is just long enough to give us back the right definition of "songs from the wood" after thirty-five years. "Chuta Chani" is a real killer track, based on a Georgian folk song (drummer Vladimer Sichinava is of Georgian origin). It combines progressive metal with folk. Part of the lyrics are sung in Megrelian, a Kartvelian language.

"The Tower" is split in two parts. The first part is dominated by Luca Latini's vocals, starting jazzy and with a memorable chorus. The second part is another great track, featured by Gionatan Caradonna's keyboards. It starts in a symphonic way, but becomes really jazzy after 1.5 minutes.

"Turned to Gold" is another mellow track. The last track, "Daedalus Falling", has an interesting instrumental interlude. It fades away just before 7 minutes. After a silence of about 1:10, there follows an encore with keyboards and a short reprise of "Ghost House".

After listening this album I can say that it is a very good one. Not for just a limited group of listeners; anyone may find something to his liking and give this album a try. The strong compositions and the overall good musicianship make Rewotower deserve a four star rating.