THE RIVER - BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY

Review #7 Marco De Angelis is an Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who although was involved in the music business for many years, never released any album under his name, and this is his first personal solo work.

Because he grew up listening mostly to the great bands of the '70's such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes etc, we can assume that his music will be influenced by this sound. Well, not exactly. His sound is modern & fresh, and although it can remind - in certain occasions - some other bands, the truth is that his music style has a rather personal style.

During the recording of the album, he played most of the instruments (with the exception of drums) and he participates in backing vocals as well. The singer is Marcello Catalano, and his voice matches the music and the style of the album very well. A very strong point worth mentioning is the backing vocals throughout the whole album. Marco De Angelis uses a very good female team doing the backing vocals, and the result is indeed very good.

Now a few info about the album: It contains 11 songs, plus 1 very small intro piece, and has a total running time of almost 67 minutes. The instruments on which the album is based mostly are keyboards and guitar, and this combination works perfectly. As for the influences I mentioned earlier, in my opinion the ones I could find would be the sound of Pink Floyd in their latest (mainly) albums such as 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' or 'The Division Bell'. (In the song 'Take it Away' for example).

Another very important fact I have to mention is that the album is actually a concept one. Starting from the title, 'The river' refers to the people's lifes as they flow like the river does, and the sub-title 'Both sides of the Story' stands for the two river banks which represent in a way the duality which all human beings exist. The struggle between Good & Evil, the male & female life's point of view, life & death, night and day, etc? It is a really interesting idea, which is covered nicely by the music of Marco De Angelis.

Concluding this review I have to say that it is a good album, and very pleasant to listen to. My rating would be 3.0 stars...

Both sides of the coin

Marco De Angelis decided to release his first solo album after many years in the music business, either as a performer or engineer/producer and this experience is reflected on "The River". Taking on board long-time friend and vocalist Marcello Catalano and a wonderful female vocal ensemble that goes by the name of 'Vocintransito', Marco produces a very professional and meticulous work in terms of presentation, sound and production. Being multi-instrumentalist, Marco handles almost everything on the album except for the drums, with the use of chapman stick standing out.

Musically, "The River" is part of the new wave of "light", commercially-driven progressive rock with many references to (mainly 80's) Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons; especially the Gilmour-esque patters on the guitars show the big influence they had on Marco's compositions. Strong points are the performances of the accomplished Catallano, who reminds me at times of the modern Neal Morse "school", and Vocitransito, maybe a modern aspect of what someone experiences in Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon''. Lyrically, the album deals with the concept of duality in many aspects and makes journeys to the past and memories as the short radio spot samples confirm. What is most important is that it flows freely and everything seems to mix successfully, an indication of serious production work.

Elements of innovation or intense variation are somewhat missing and the end result comes out polished and refined to the smallest detail but maybe lacking that extra "kick". Fans of crossover prog though, as defined here, will enjoy this to the full.

Best moments: One Love, Take it Away

Although this is the debut album of the Italian musician Marco De Angelis, he's far away from being a new face in the musical world. He spent the last 15 years working as a sound engineer and as a producer for production companies in Italy. He also has his own recording studio and he is a multi-instrumentalist playing the guitars, Chapman stick, bass and keyboards. His first album The River: Both Sides Of The Story (2013) is a conceptual piece of work that deals with the duality in life.

The album runs in a more modern approach to Prog but very often having a Neo Prog feeling to the music. It is also very different when it comes to styles, one can't really say that Progressive Rock is the main goal here. In my opinion, the goal of the album is to pass the message in a dreamy bed of sounds and not really focusing on being Prog Rock.

The singer of the album is Marcello Catalano and he does a very good job throughout The River: Both Sides Of The Story (2013) with good vocal lines. And though there are plenty of very good songs and bits on the album with catchy Prog moments like the great opening track 'Tell Me Why', the Neo Prog 'Black Stare' or in the Pink Floyd influenced moments like 'Regrets' and 'Take It Away' I had a hard time to label The River: Both Sides Of The Story (2013) as a Progressive album.

On the other side of the album there are plenty of Pop oriented tracks, that aren't really bad songs but one expecting a Prog album can be disappointed. Being a Prog Rock website when I receive a CD I'm expecting it to be Prog Rock and when it comes to this album half of the songs is not quite there as in 'One Love', 'Snowbound' and 'This Time'.

Marco De Angelis wrote a good album, it's also well played and has great songs. The problem for me is the aforementioned fact: I expect Prog albums when receiving a CD to review so it's quite hard to write about albums like The River: Both Sides Of The Story (2013). The album has numerous Prog moments as I mentioned, but I wouldn't mark it as such. It lacks a more intriguing and profound sound, perhaps some daring moments in the compositions would do.

Having explained this, The River: Both Sides Of The Story (2013) is a good album, it's just not Prog enough for my standards. If you like a good mix of Prog Rock and Pop Rock with a big Neo Prog accent you're going to love it. Now, if you're searching for a more complex sound, seek somewhere else, this is not for you.

In time, mentioning the booklet of the CD is needed, it's a great fat booklet with high quality paper that reminded me of many of my 90's CDs.

(Originally posted on progshine.net)