LA FIABA DELLA BUONANOTTE

Now this one was a really nice surprise.

The 12 tracks on this production - 13 if you count in the hidden last one - takes on a musical style that is pretty innovative, with some compelling moods, atmospheres and compositions to boot. The foundation of these excursions are harsh, slightly gritty guitars and a distinct bass line. Verse segments slightly more mellow in approach; but in general a punk and indie-rock flavour is a key element in this band's sound; placed in ever evolving, quirky compositions that rarely are predictable and always stay fascinating and intriguing - both due to the high energy songs as well as the pretty distinct moods they create.

Operatic and theatrical elements aplenty further enriches this venture - and although perhaps a tad too harsh sounding to the generic prog and rock fan this stuff is well worth checking out. Highly recommended of course.

Baroque are an Italian prog band from Turin that started its activity in 2004. The line up features Matteo Tambussi aka Matt Le Mad (vocals, guitar), Stefano Tiozzo (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Alessandro Ghigo (drums) and Alberto Ghigo (bass, backing vocals). After many intense and sparkling live performances, their debut album "La fiaba della buonanotte" was released in 2008 by the French label Musea Records. On stage Baroque have a funny and very theatrical approach. They managed to shape an original sound blending raw and heavy guitar riffs with melody, psychedelic and classical operatic influences. The result is an amazing musical delirium full of irony and interesting intuitions. Despite the name, do not expect to listen to a clone of PFM or to a "baroque music ensemble veined of rock" but to an original band full of energy and ready to start a sonic assault to conventions...

The first track "Overture" is a short instrumental introduction that could be used as a soundtrack for a horror film... Nonetheless it melts in "Batracomiomachia", a funny piece about the eternal war between men and women. The title was inspired by a parody based on the Iliad that tells the war between frogs and mice...

Next track "(me)Mento" is a straightforward rock track about lies. You can lie to everyone even to yourself and get lost into your own circus of lies... "Nera" is a "shining black" ballad, black like a lost souvenir... "Sea, in the night cradle me away / Don't throw me again against the shore"...

"Scherzo n°1 in RE min" begins with a baroque harpsichord and solemn marching beat, then the rhythm section brings curious and light "British waves". This track is sung in English and every now and again it could vaguely remind of The Beatles...

Next track "La corte degli scontenti" starts with a rhythm pattern that could remind of The Knack's My Sharona. It's a straightforward and ironic rock song where the band mock people who are never satisfied.

"Santa pazienza" is a beautiful instrumental where classical piano patterns are intertwined with guitar riffs on joyful changing rhythms. One of my favourite tracks on this album. Next comes "Cenere", a delicate ballad featuring piano and acoustic guitar, where love dreams burn and become nothing but ashes...

"Operetta n°1 - La demoniaca" try to describe the fight against your own demons. It's a track full of joyful and positive energy where ironic operatic vocals sing "I will use a machete against your sharp tongues / You won't laugh at me anymore...".

"La regina nera" is introduced by a classical piano pattern. It features sarcastic lyrics about the cruelty of a black queen and amazing vocal parts. It's a nice blend of hard rock and operetta. Next comes "La carie", a funny and complex mix of styles from honky-tonk to hard rock, operetta and melody featuring lyrics inspired by a toothache...

"Oniricausto" is another funny and dreamy musical delirium while the bonus track "Boris Bestiarius" sounds like a last joke between black metal and nursery rhymes.

On the whole a very interesting and unconventional prog album.

There's no need to worry if you can't tell Baroque from Rococo because, to paraphrase Albert Einstein, ''La Fiaba Della Buonanotte'' has about as much to do with ''baroque'' as gravitation has to do with people falling in love. By the same token there's no need to hold a gun to my head for me to make comparisons here, although I wouldn't try to measure these guys against the likes of PFM. This is a raunchy and modern mix of prog, glam and alternative rock... with an Italian twist, admittedly.

There's even some punk thrown in along the way, if you want to describe the Stranglers as punk. The bass and organ on ''Batracomiomachia'' has strong shades of the men in black, along with passionate vocals that recall Ange's Christian Décamps. If any listeners wonder about the intermittent frog croak effects on this track (which obviously seemed like a good idea at the time), the song is a parody of the differences between men and women using Homer's ''The Battle of Frogs and Mice'' as its inspiration. By the way, the album's vocals are a mix of Italian and English, sometimes within the same song.

''Operetta No 1 La Demoniaca'' has a Muse-like grandiosity to it, but Baroque's over the top theatrics and tongue in cheek operatic pretensions make them sound like an up-to-date version of the daddy of all highfalutin rockers. From the vaudevillian ''Scherzo No 1 in Re- Minore'' to the raucous rock of ''La Regina Nera'' and ''La Carie'', replete with Brian May-styled guitar solos, the Queen influence debouches out of this album's very pores. ''La Fiaba Della Buonanotte'' is available as a download for under $9, less than seven quid in real money, which makes this particular misshapen pearl as cheap as chips and a sure fire winner for RPI fans.

The Baroque title for this band from Torino is totally misleading.The four-piece Italian outfit was formed in 2003 and had a very intense activity during the first four years, playing live in numerous festivals and participating in several competitions.After such a hard work they were finally rewarded with their debut album ''La Fiaba Della Buonanotte'' in 2008, which was distributed by the giant Prog label Musea through its branch Musea Parallele.

''La Fiaba Della Buonanotte'' is propably what a modern Prog fan looks for.Energetic, powerful, tricky and intelligent rock music all the way with a discreet blink towards the 70's.Thirteen short tracks with rockin' guitars, powerful organ and piano moves, theatrical vocals and a fair amount of multi-vocal harmonies result a very fresh work with compressed themes packaged in just four or five minutes pieces of music art.But there is also room for some clever synths, interesting loops and vintage harsichord in their music menu.The main wheel of the group seems to be the contemporary Heavy Rock carriage, which is constantly surrounded by wider inspirations, such as Classical interludes, Funk-like rhythms, Psychedelic Rock colors or even Indie Rock/Punk nuances.But these guys turn all this stuff into a tremendously tight mix of solid Art Rock sounds, which sound catchy and demanding at the same time.

The approach of Baroque with all these different inspirations might sound a bit risky, but the overall result is simply great.This is a band with talent, showing how contemporary Prog should sound like.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.