DIVIDE ET IMPERA

A lot of the new prog bands that emerged in the 1990's were accused of retreading the 1970's. In the last two decades, however, I think there are many bands who are more inspired by bands of the 1980's. Italy's Rosenkreutz is a band who seems to wear its 80's influences on its sleeve. I once bought an album back in the late eighties by a German eighties hard rock band name Stone Fury, whose second album combined eighties pop sounds with the heaviness of a rock band - heavy guitar and powerful, full on synthesizer chords. Rosenkreutz captures a lot of that aspect.

"Freefall" is the opening track which is a bright uplifting eighties-ish track that sounds modernized. It's a deep, warm song with lots of punch and plenty of strong vocal melodies. "Imaginary Friend" features some heavy organ and exciting violin playing. It's a hard- hitting, charger of a track that still delivers fine vocal melodies.

Over the next three tracks, Rosenkruetz, impress us with gentler acoustic parts, more powerful guitars and vocals, and more of that eighties-sounding playing style. Especially the chorus in "True Lies", that eighties pomp kicks in big time! "Aurelia" is one of the big tracks on the album that takes you on a journey as it grows in power and drops a terrific piano solo before becoming tense and heavier.

Finally, "The Collector" is an action-packed 15-minute plus track that might sound to you like 1990's Dream Theater with once again more heavy guitars and also strong keyboard playing. It's a song that keeps changing direction much like how the title track from their "Back to the Stars" was always changing. Yet while "Back to the Stars" had about as many changes as "Super's Ready", "The Collector" reins in the multitude of twists to a more sensible number. There's enough action to keep you surprised yet not enough to spin your head round. And there are once more those fantastic vocals and their melodies.

I really loved the debut album, "Back to the Stars"; however it was mostly for three tracks that really stood out above the others. "Divide et Impera" doesn't have that incredible pinnacle that was the title track of the first album, but I feel the thrills on the album are more consistent and frequent.

If you're interested in a heavy prog album with strong eighties influences and synthesizers plus excellent vocal melodies and some great examples of action-packed progressive rock flair, head on over to Bandcamp and have a listen to Rosenkreutz's "Divide at Impera"!

"Divide et Impera" is Rosenkreutz's second studio album and was released in 2020 on the independent Andromeda Relix label with a renewed line up featuring Fabio Serra (guitars, keyboards, percussion, vocals), Gianni Brunelli (drums, percussion), Gianni Sabbioni (bass, Chapman Stick), Massimo Piubelli (vocals), Carlo Soliman (piano, keyboards) and Eva Impellizzeri (vocals, keyboards). It confirms all the good qualities of the band's debut work, "Back To The Stars", with its excellent blend of melody, AOR and more complex passages that every now and again could recall Kansas or The Spock's Beard. All the pieces seem to have a common thread as they in some way describe the subtle line between what we perceive and what's real and, in my opinion, the beautiful art work by Christophe Dessaigne gives a good idea of the album's content...

The opener "Freefall" starts with a jump into eighties soundscapes, then takes a different direction maintaining a strong melodic approach. The music and lyrics tell about a dangerous descent into a vortex of desires, mislead by cheating smiles and kind words. Sometimes a particular glance can change the balance between the things you really need and what you feel necessary and make you fall into a dangerous, deceitful daydream, cradled by the sound of little, seducing lies...

The sarcastic "Imaginary Friend" every now and again could recall Queen and is an excellent piece about religious ideals that turn into business and terrorism. The imaginary friend of the title is a kind of hand tailored, bloodthirsty god created by merciless pseudo-religious leaders and exalted preachers to rip you off and make you kill other people with the joy in your heart...

Then comes "The Candle In The Glass", a disquieting melodic ballad depicting a wicked game where the protagonist falls under the spell of the images he can see in a looking glass lighted by the flickering flame of a candle. The refined arrangement features a string quartet (the guests Evequartett) that add a touch of romantic colour to the crepuscular tableaux...

"I Know I Know" is an aggressive, nervous track that features even a short passage with rap vocals delivered by the guest Flamma. It evokes an inner demon taking the lead, a dream driving you insane as reality becomes more and more blurred... Next comes "Aurelia", where the rhythm slackens and eerie melodies soar from nocturnal passages and nightmarish atmospheres. It tells a dark story of love and betrayal, murder and regret, a story where the perfect life of a glamorous woman suddenly turns into madness...

The catchy "True Lies" could recall Toto and is about the dangerous, deceiving power of media, fake news and television preachers, overwhelming advertisement policies and true lies running over and over the screen making of you just a kind of fool to exploit while the following "Sorry And..." describes in music and words a very hard letter to write and evokes suicidal thoughts under the moonlight, when autumn turns into winter and hell seems a welcoming place...

Then the long, complex "The Collector" ends the album by telling the story of a psychotic collector of human eyes, an insane serial killer that eventually realizes what he's done and takes off his own eyes to complete his macabre collection. Well, his story is long but it's worth listening to...

On the whole, a very good work!

A few months ago I belatedly reviewed this band's 2014 debut album, most annoyed with myself for not writing about it earlier, but after I sent it to Fabio he asked if I would also like to hear their 2020 release (and told me there is a new album due for the end of this year). Although there was six years between the first and second, the core of the band stayed the same with Fabio Serra (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Gianni Brunelli (drums, percussion), Gianni Sabbioni (bass, Chapman Stick), and Massimo Piubelli (lead vocals) all still there but they have been extended from a quartet to a sextet with the addition of Carlo Soliman (piano, keyboards), who actually guested on two tracks on the debut, and Eva Impellizzeri (viola, keyboards, vocals).

As with their debut, Røsenkreütz do not sound Italian as they are a long way removed from the RPI prog scene we all know so well, but instead are mixing together 80's style melodic rock and prog in a way which is commercial, immediate, and so much damn fun to listen to. It is obvious they have been heavily influenced by classic Spock's Beard (such a strange thing to write, I can remember raving over their debut when they were unknowns), while there are also some elements of Eighties' Kansas, with the viola being very much part of that. Their music relies on hooks, melodic vocals and plenty of harmonies with complex interplay between all the instruments. The arrangements are bouncy and drive the listener along with a smile on their face. They can bring it down of course and do on tracks like "The Candle In The Glass", but this is primarily a crossover progressive rock band who do not forget the importance of rock in what they are doing but looking to melodic as opposed to metal.

The album ends with the longest track, "The Collector" (not the Twelfth Night song) which is more than 15 minutes in length. This tells the story of a psychopath, and contains the most complex interplay of the album, with dynamic keyboard runs, punching drums and plenty of guitars with Piubelli living every moment as he puts everything into his performance. It is a wonderful climax, and there is no doubt that anyone into this style of progressive/melodic rock will find this essential.