KLEIN & WAGNER

This is the 2nd last studio album by this Italian band. Again, there is nothing really mind-blowing found here like there isn't in the few previous albums before this but the music isn't bad either. This album has a similar sound to their next album Capolinea but this album is not as good. The guitar is clearer and not as distorted as on their previous albums, which I like. In general, this album is a little improvement to the previous album Dr. Faust.

The most prominent instruments are the keyboards but they are mostly in the background and the guitar is the main solo instrument. Guitarist Pietro Ratto has an easily identified guitar sound. I like it when a guitarist has a sound of his own. His guitar playing in this album is not overly technical but he still delivers some nice leads. His voice is rough but warm.

The highlight tracks of this album for me are "Esule" and "E Dio Senza Te".

Conclusion: A pleasant listening experience but nothing special.

By the time ''Dr. Faust'' was issued, drummer Paolo Bonito had already left the group and Pietro Ratto decided to replace him with 16-years old (!!!) teenager Riccardo Lombardo.In the meantime ''Dr. Faust'' sold quite well, but was criticized badly by the prog magazines.Four years later Aton's would return with a new studio album.Ratto was inspired by Herman Hesse's novel ''Klein und Wagner'' and the fifth studio work of the band would see the light in 1996 on Mellow Records.

Aton's were on decline and ''Klein und Wagner'' was a good proof for this fact.The band sounds as close as it gets to typical Neo Progressive Rock with sensitive vocals and easy guitar tunes, accesible grooves and cliche song structures.Compared to the previous works there is just not enough space for any instrumental efforts and Ratto's voice dominates the whole album without some breeze of more adventurous passages.Apart from a couple of tracks with a nice atmosphere, ''Klein & Wagner'' suffers from forgettable tunes, plastic keyboard parts, an average production and the mediocre sound of electronic drums.The choruses are not particularly memorable and what saves this effort from a below average rating is the brilliant voice of Ratto, the decent guitar work and the few lovely tracks in the vein of ''Caccia grossa'' like the slightly complicated opening ''Klein'', the melodic instrumental ''Stop'' and the highly emotional ''E dio Senzate''.

Since Massimo Trasente left Aton's, the band had yet to make some impact.With works like ''Klein & Wagner'', Aton's deserved to be labeled as a band with potential, which never actually came out of the depths of obscurity.Only recommended to fans of Neo Prog or easy-going Italian Prog...2.5 stars.