DECODING THE EMPTINESS

One of my favorite bands is back with another patented one-two punch of releases, a tradition they have mastered once before in 2018. By the way, the second 2025 release is a "Live :Waves from the Underground", performed at the Studiosette in Rome in October 2023. Their previous 2022 release "Daedalus" was a universally praised masterpiece, garnering high marks for technical merit as well as artistic Impression. The great news is the line-up remains the same, : the amazing Alfio Costa on a variety of keyboards, drummer extraordinaire Davide Guidoni, scintillating guitarist Ettore Salati and Bobo Aiolfi on the thunderous bass guitar. The 8 tracks also include 2 vocal guests but is really an instrumentally centric opus of the highest order. The title track catapults immediately into a musical path that is anchored on the symphonic side of things, but in a soundtrack-like manner, with dense atmospherics that show neither haste nor hysterics, though the mood can be quite surly and despairing, driven, as it is by tectonic drum fills and colossal torrents of blazing mellotron. There is a distinct aroma of the Crimson King and Italian stalwarts Goblin in the emanations presented here, in that a sense of trepidation and doom perseveres like a dense fog that seeps into the pores of the unforgiving. Ettore even peels of a glistening guitar line that sears the mind and even persists on the next piece "Attic Clouds" , a rhythmically oblique thrashing of confusion and looming dread that would fuel any horror flick known to man. The gruesome mood is mechanical yet greasy as if rolling on well-oiled lubrication, a reptilian motion that remains methodical until the ideal moment is ready and the release coiled to strike. Briefly only echo and resonance, Bobo marshals the drum parade, Davide clanging in the distance, as the feisty mellotron appears out of the darkened skies, pouncing mercilessly on the defenceless senses.

Complete change of pace on the opening vocal of "Twilight", a tenebrous requiem of glinting piano and harrowing voice, with subtle synthesized orchestrations, that metamorphoses into a pyrotechnic guitar meteor amid the trembling stars. There is a tranquility in the serene bass ruffle that seeks only to reassure, fomenting an eventual entrance for Ettore to display some dexterous picking, crystalline and awe-inspiring in its subtlety. I did mention a notion of scary movie earlier, didn't I ? Well, "Horror Vacui" certainly fits the bill, a mellotron- infested cascade, shoved along by a suitable bass trough, suddenly exploding into a fiery storm of Crimsonian vehemence and immediately dismissed by a romantic piano interlude, only to reignite another round of volatile destruction. Obdurate, erratic and teasingly serene , you never have any clue where this may be going, like Charon on the river Styx, destination and destiny unknown.

The cavernous "Simulacra" offers bombast in a variety of exploratory directions, as if offering another red nightmare, adorned with spooky synth pools of perspiration and slashes of incisive blades of sound carving into the brain. Images of somber reptiles slithering along Roman mosaic tiles, heading towards the roar of the arena nearby, where the starving lions await their next lunch. Gruesome effigies crucified along the road to freedom, impudent crows cawing with disdain.

The sultry femininity of "Mademoiselle X" comes as a most welcome distraction, the curving bass highlighting the softness of skin, the aroused mellotron caressing like a silky veil, building up into a glowing sonic image of beauty incarnate. Then the seductive lead guitar joins in on the flattery, the atmosphere veers into carnal exuberance. An extraordinary track that deserves the gift of eternal love, devotion and surrender.

The next 13 minute onslaught has a title that leaves no room for questioning ,"D.O.O.M" diabolically smashes into the soul with a searing display of pyrotechnics that unexplainably (but not really surprisingly) comes to a grinding halt, enough time for a forlorn piano to exalt gently, and then reignite into a magnificent melody, a pattern that will be repeated until the very end. From eloquence to eruption we go, back and forth in a domineering and deranged gait, a roller coaster of emotions from the two polar extremes, a challenging exercise in contrasts. Toss in a variety of sonic effects and noises to further confuse and numb the mind into subservience, the rash guitar takes over the pace, rambling along with the bruising mellotron, nasty bass currents and demonic drumming outro from Guidoni that fades into the sunset.

There is a bonus track , "Return from the Spiral Mind" , a variation of the previous album's mainstay, the 2-part epic "Journey through the Spiral Mind" which spanned a chunky 22 minutes. Here , the onus is closer to Floydian investigations, albeit in a more biting setting, with Alfio displaying his talent on a variety of keyboard instruments. There is less 'sturm und drang' fright than on the main album, hence coming across as a calming exit, a warmer touch and a guarantee of more future music from this impeccable Italian powerhouse.

5 Decrypted voids

DAvide and ALfio are back with not one but two albums (released at the same time) of which this is the studio album (the other is a live album), the duo's eighth and ninth, respectively.

1. "Decoding The Emptiness" (8:53) a long, two-minute two-chord bombastic power opening turns in the third minute into something more sedate for singer Joe Sal to sing over. Is it my imagination but does Joe struggle to stay on pitch? Mellotron and synths bring in a nice NeoProg sound but, sadly, it's still just a two-chord song--with the only development coming from the variety of instruments cycling through. The exceedingly poor vocal sound engineering really begins to stand out to a distracting degree around the 6:00 mark. Thank goodness for the stripped down atmospheric section starting in the eighth minute and carrying forward to the song's finish. (17.625/20)

2. "Attic Clouds" (7:56) this one opens as if something off of KING CRIMSON's Red (even to the point of Davide Guidoni crashing on a cymbal that sounds like the legendary broken cymbal that Bill Bruford used on "One More Red Nightmare") with long-held Frippertronic-like guitar/synth notes and crashing cymbals filling the first minute. After that a heavy two-chord motif is presented with organ, bass, and guitar chords carrying a Crimsonian melody along over Davide's excellent drumming. The fourth minute sees an Änglagård-like switch into "flute" synth instruments taking over the upper end of the musical spectrum. A switch back to the Crimsonian motif finds Ettore Salati soloing in a continued Frippian manner before a return to a softer, more spacious section that turns out to be the Anekdtoen "Hole"-like calm before the storm. The final 90 seconds display the cacophanous crescendo and post-coital fade in the final seconds. If you love King Crimson, you'll probably love this very well constructed and well-engineered song. Definitely a top three song for me. (14/15)

3. "Twilight" (7:02) discordant piano chords set the scene for "Alphabeard"'s sensitive vocal. The over all feel is something like that of a prog ballad from an early prog wannabe: employing very low standards for both complexity and performance polish. At the three-minute mark the vocal motif stops and a sparsely-populated instrumental passage begins that takes until the 4:20 mark to reveal that it is a continuation of the opening theme (using the same arpeggiated dissonant piano chord to gently prod the way). The musical palette builds, slowly thickening with keyboard, key-percussion, and muted guitar lead play until l6:30 when Alphabeard reappears to finish the song with the fretless bass notes and synth strings. (13.125/15)

4. "Horror Vacui" (7:40) "distant" piano arpeggio and synth strings chords slowly moves forward, establishing themselves in the listener's lap with fretless bass and sensitive acoustic drums joining the fray to provide a nice melancholy motif. At 2:10 everyone but the arpeggiating piano drop out to make room for a solo from what sounds like a muted cor anglais (produced by a guitar or synthesizer, of course). This lasts until 2:45 when the full band spring to life in yet another drawn out two-chord power motif in which the "muted cor anglais" continues playing in a Frippertronic way. This is not a long passage, is, in fact, alternated a few times with cleared-out spacey motifs that remind me of some of the softer sections of songs on PURE REASON REVOLUTION's The Dark Third. I especially like the one that starts in the sixth minute and continues flowing through the seventh. Were it not for the heavy parts and more electronic feel of the overall sonic palette, this could almost fit on one of Richard Wileman's old KARDA ESTRA albums--like Eve or Voivode Dracula. Nice tune! More thought and attention went into the construction and polishing of this song than I'm used to hearing from DAvide and ALfio. More like this, please! Another top three song. (14/15)

5. "Simulacra" (6:19) opening with some bombastic plodding that reminds me of ANEKDOTEN and some of the less-creative second tier NeoProg bands. The bass-heavy chord play (mirrored by some annoying high end synth strings) continues through the first 2:35 before a gentle KING CRIMSON-like "flute" and "'Tron" passage bridges the way into some delicate electric guitar strum-and-stroking. I like this part. Then the song slowly rebuilds into another heavier, thicker motif--all the while as DAvide beats away on his drum kit using his Bill Bruford snare hits. Interesting--and not bad; just not great. (8.875/10)

6. "Mademoiselle X" (5:41) synthesizer-produced "off world" animal sounds open this one before an electric piano arpeggio emerges and convinces the fretless bass and STEVE JANSEN-like drums to join in. The ensuing motif is slow, gentle, but interesting. I particularly like the freedom bassist Bobo Aiolfi has to express himself as well as the wonderful melodies played within the weave by Alfio on his saw-bassoon-synth. A stop at 2:56 allows us to return to trying to listen to the otherworldly voices from the beginning, but then the band jumps back into full action with guitarist Ettore Salati entering with some excellent solo electric guitar play. Another very interesting, very enjoyable. even memorable song. Kudos team DAAL! My other top three song. (9.3333/10)

7. "D.o.o.m. (Mortuarii Octavarii Obscuri Declamatio)" (13:00) a true suite-like prog epic with a PINK FLOYD-feeling sound palette that actually is made up of several disparate motifs, cleverly glued together. Unfortunately, the minor keys and plodding pace of the second and third (solo piano) motifs d.o.o.m. this to my "do not repeat" bin. The fourth motif (in the seventh through ninth minutes) is quite good as it brings to mind some of PORCUPINE TREE's finer heavy prog jams. And then the fifth motive with its THE FLOWER KINGS feel is just too bombastic--and then it's followed by a sudden opening into some industrial machine sounds for some seconds before emptying out into the sixth and final motif, which bounces on a quirky clavinet syncopation. My favorite feature throughout the suite is DAvide's excellent drumming: and it's recorded and engineered so perfectly--and finishes the song! (22/25)

8. "Return From The Spiral Mind" (Bonus Track) (9:25) another track that opens with before breaking out with a heavy MYRATH-like motif that is led by a Middle Eastern melody. A song that was probably better left off the album--slated for "further development." (17.375/20)

Total Time 65:56

I have to admit that DAvide and ALfio's composition, engineering, and production skills have all grown measurably: Never has the sound been so good (especially of DAvide's drums); never have the compositions been as sophisticated and polished; never has ALfio's sound choices infatuated me as much.

B+/4.5 stars; an album of inconsistent levels of appeal, it is clearly one of DAAL's finest efforts: the band of four works much better (in my opinion) than the duo.