GERMINALE

Pastoral/symphonic modern Italian prog - fine musicianship but lacking something to stop your attention from wandering around and you find yourself having to select tracks to get familiar with the last third of the album, something that will not happen with their next one.

GEMINALE's first album is just simply irresistible and may be one the best releases from the '90's Italian prog scene in my opinion. What makes this album work so well for me is it's completeness... organ/keyboard - flute soaked passages, harmonic guitar solo's, foreboding bass lines, surrounded by excellent and varied drumming and percussion. Vocals are excellent and as you would expect highly expressive and of course sung in Italian. Once again I find their music reminiscent of early Italian prog greats PFM with the heavy combination of both symphonia and jazz- like musical passages in the same song. Highly recommended and one of my favs.!

This is in fact a very strong debut album by this 90's Italian symphonic prog band. It's much in the spirit of the 70's masters, but they are presenting here really their very own style. Musicianship is excellent and there is a broad spectrum of instruments used, like acoustic and electric guitars, flute, sax, piano and different keyboard sounds. The songs are sometimes rather lengthy featuring multiple parts which are often very much different from each other.

As an example Soffi Sonori is starting very quiet with soft piano, shifting to organ sound and uplifting tempo when the vocals come in. After another short quiet silent part with tender acoustic guitar there is an extreme shift to a quite cacophonic section with a free-jazz sax solo. After this short heavy breakout the song returns to its mellow melodic mood from the beginning with flute and piano followed by another quite sudden shift to vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar and some piano tunes and a final flute/organ part. Really an amazing track and excellent for a debut. This one is a highlight of the album, but all the other songs are very good as well. Other highlights are La Strega , featuring a nice flute solo, Lo Sguardo Nello Specchio, containing more rocking elements and Il Mago, which has a slightly jazzy section in the beginning with nice sax playing.

This is the only album I listened from them so far, but I'll try to get their second, which must be a masterpiece obviously. But their first one was already very good and IMHO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all lovers of Italian symphonic Prog. Although it might be considered a non essential one in general I can't give less than 4 stars for this one!!

Germinale is a pretty symphonic CD, reminiscent of Genesis from the "Trespass" era. No wonder that they will cover "The Knife" from the masters.

The album starts with a pretty weird and short intro track (18 seconds - what's the use of this ???). Second track "La Strega" is very good but this CD really starts with the beautiful & melodic instrumental "Bruma - Quietesmo" which is quite ... quiet. Very classical & calm : to be listened to when you're angry to calm down.

Next track, "Lo Sguardo Nello Specchio" is built crescendo : slow intro with vocals & piano in the foreground growing faster after 90 seconds or so. The middle section contains some "Gabrielesque" flute passages which are quite nice to listen to. This track is probably one of the best constructed of this CD.

"Soffi Sonori" is a very pleasant track that combines melody and jazzy impro (à la VDGG who they will cover on their second album). This is a good illustration of Germinale's music : complex but melodious.

The next three songs are not so interesting but not bad either. Three stars for this very accessible album.

GERMINALE is a modern Italian band with unquestionable talent, whose influences tend towards the early 1970s classic Italian bands - a bit of PFM, Banco, Celeste, as well as the big British bands. This is a promising debut but, while passages show occasional independent flourishes, the songs themselves rarely hold my interest, and the mood swings are irrational. One of the few that is consistent is "Guardiano Dei Cieli", which reminds me of Franco Battiato somehow. The lengthiest track "La Strega" also has good energy and some cohesion, and Bruma is a good instrumental. "Lo Sguardo Nello Specchio" is has hot organ and flute interactions, but then the quality drops off for the most part. Another similar band in time, but ultimately with more compelling songs and melodies, is Foglie di Vetro, which released only one album in 1996. 2.5 stars rounded down because it probably doesn't have any tracks that would even be in my Italian top 100. Nice, but not nice enough.

The long-aged tradition of Italian symphonic rock with a definite folk/mediterrenean taste continues through the 90's with GERMINALE...a band found in 1991 in the city of Pisa.Although starting their career as a cover band,GERMINALE soon focused on composing their own material and the result of these efforts was taped on their self-titled album,released in 1994,at a time when progressive rock was returning back strong in Italy.

There's not much guitar-oriented stuff to be found in here,as the band's sound is strongly based on flutes,organ and piano.Certainly having symphonic leanings,GERMINALE present also a heavy tendency on pastoral musicianship with nice flutes dominating here and there.Vocals ,where added,are quite good, supported by sensational grooves and some HACKETT-like electric guitars,but often limited,giving space to the interactions between the strong rhythm section and organist/pianist Gabriele Guidi.Generally this is a light symphonic release with straight comparisons to the 70's Italian scene,especially P.F.M., CELESTE, MADRUGADA or REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA.A well-crafted work,which could be of great interest for fans of symphonic progressive rock!