SEI LACRIME D'AMBRA

The prog community received warmly Notabene's debut and the Italian progsters soon moved on with the process of recording its follow up.In 2006 the band worked hard for three months at Noise Studio in Gussago, Brescia and the next year Notabene's sophomore effort ''Sei lacrime d'ambra'' was released again on Mellow Records.

The album continues along the lines already drawn by the five-piece act on their debut and their sound flirts intensively with the Retro Prog style of LA MASCHERA DI CERA.Well-crafted, pounding and dynamic Progressive Rock with huge vintage blinks and a style ranging from Classic Symphonic Rock to Heavy Prog, thus recalling the goodies offered in the past by ALPHATAURUS, BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO, MUSEO ROSENBACH or IL BALLETO DI BRONZO.Lots of complex time changes, impressive and attacking breaks, rough and expressive vocal work and powerful interplays try to find place in Notabene's compositions and the result is pretty great.Nice and versatile guitar work by Giampietro Maccabiani with jazzy chops, heavier grooves and more delicate solos, even nicer keyboard performance by Daniele Manerba filled with sudden changes, from 70's-influenced organ waves to jazzy piano interludes to strong synthesizer moves.But Notabene never forget to throw in some good melodies as well with more sensitive approach in a typical Italian romantic style.Two out of the six compositions exceed the 16-min. mark, being great examples of grandiose Italian Prog with solid arrangements, the only semi-weak point being some Neo Prog-sounding synths that are quite nice but hurt a bit the consistency of an otherwise 70's-sounding album.

Unfortunately Notabene faded away after this release with only one more appearance on the 2008 compilation album ''Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy - Part I'' and I am pretty sure they even had an official announcement of their demise back at the time, automatically listing them among the unfairly lost Italian bands of the new era.''Sei lacrime d'ambra'' still is a fantastic example of furious and dynamic first class Progressive Rock and of course highly recommended.