LEVERAGE

90's Italian Neo Prog band from Roma, discovered by Ezra Winston's leader Mauro Di Donato and their last guitarist Stefano Pontani.Gallant Farm consisted of Giorgio Andreozzi and Alessandro Pisani on keyboards, Davide Guidoni on drums, Gabriele Maiolo on lead voice/guitars and Simone Maiolo on bass.They recorded their sole release ''Leverage'' in 1994, produced by Massimo Guarini, Pontani was responsible for the sound production and the album was released privately.From the number of guest musicians appearing we notice the presence of Leviathan's vocalist Alex Brunori, who sings in the longest track ''Been too wrong''.

Many are the Italian groups to which Gallant Farm resemble: Veterans LEVIATHAN, MOONGARDEN plus you can add a touch of EZRA WINSTON and ERIS PLUVIA in the softer moments.Gallant Farm was a talented group, suffering from the rather thin sound of keyboards, typical of a 90's production, but having some good ability on creating elaborate compositions with a variety of moods, including dramatic instrumental passages, lyrical romanticism and melodic soundscapes.Plenty of symphonic lines are apparent in the overall accesible style of the group, which combines a keyboard-based Neo Prog with a more pompous style of Progressive Rock, led by sharp guitars and masses of orchestral synthesizers.One or two tracks have a rather AOR-ish vibe with more catchy choruses and straighter song structures, while some cheesy keyboard textures do have also an AOR-ish vibe.However the album is far from dissapointing due to the pleasant, lush arrangements, some of which include delicate acoustic moments, and a nice number of mindblowing melodies, popping up in several moments of this effort.Vocals are in English with a decent and sensitive color, typical of Italian singers with a slight accent problem.

The career of Gallant Farm was short-lived.Almost all of the band's members dissappeared from the prog circles apart from Davide Guidoni, who's career was more than fruitful, playing with Taproban, The Far Side and Daal among others.

''Leverage'' is a good example of 90's Neo Prog, which may leave cold the lovers of more retro-inclined albums, but will please all fans of melodic Progressive Rock, soft, modern Symphonic Rock and Neo Prog.Recommended.