DR FAUST

Aton's is a new Italian group but it was actually founded already in 1977 by Pietro Ratto who is the guitarist and voice in the group. The first line-up included also the bassist Vito Frallonardo who remained in the band for its whole career. I believe they were both 11 years old when the group was founded! Vito Frallonardo played originally rhythm guitar but switched to bass in 1988 when the group released its 2nd album, the band's first truly progressive release. In the first years of activity the group played totally different music than what was to be the albums that were released a lot later.

Dr. Faust is a nice album by this Italian band. It is nothing really special but a pleasant listening anyway. Musically they remind me of the more romantic groups of the seventies Italian scene. Lyrically the album deals with Goethe's Faust. The third band member in this album is the drummer Paolo Bonito.

There are not any special highlights in this album but not any bad songs either. The opener "Preludio in Cielo" is probably the best track.

Conclusion: A pleasant listening experience but nothing special.

''Caccia grossa'' marked the last contribution of long-time drummer Massimo Trasente for the band,as he relocated in France.Shocked, the two remaining Aton's members Vito Frallonardo and Pietro Ratto started looking for his replacement.It was the young drummer Paolo Bonito who took after the job.Meanwhile Aton's signed a contract with Mellow Records after being warned about Contempo Records' difficult to-go-through situation.As a rock interpretation of Goethe's Faust, Aton's returned with their third album ''Dr. Faust'' in 1992.

When a band relies on such a high degree in the vocal arrangements, one thing is for sure: Either you get a great masterpiece like with ''Caccia grossa'' or you fall short compared to this like the new effort if the inspiration is gone.Additionally other flaws like the mediocre production or the bad-sounding keyboard/orchestration programming come to surface. Actually the first tracks contain some decent instrumental parts with good breaks and melodies with even ''Notte di valpurgia'' being all instrumental with a strong LE ORME influence and really challenging changing moods.The rest of the album is not quite as strong.Rather straightforward and similar-sounding songs with horrible cheap synth-programming and average melodies under an awful mix, depending heavily on the romantic vocal performance of Ratto.His voice remains a trademark and a highlight of the band, however the vocal arrangements do not help, being rather flat compared to what was going on in ''Caccia grossa''.''Rimasta solo'' is the exception here, being a great piece of the good Aton's face with Ratto's sensational vocals on the forefront and a grandiose symphonic middle section.

Not a great follow-up to the band's finest effort, propably due to the obvious lack of inpiration and the departure of Massimo Trasente.A mediocre mix of Neo Prog, Pop-Rock and light Symphonic Rock with only a few nice moments, this album is exclusively headed to fans of romantic and smooth Italian Prog...2.5 stars.