DAAL

New birth in the house of Daal: at the distance of about one year from the previous Destruktive-Action-Affect-Living, and while maintaining the precedent set for matters relating to the formation, which is the duo Alfio Costa/ David Guidoni to construct a real band, and a large and qualified group of musicians to act as guests, although if this definition is very simplistic when compared to the absolute value of those involved.

Compared to the previous test you notice some changes in the proposed musical object of our analysis. First of all, it should be emphasized that we are dealing with an instrumental album concept (rather unusual stuff), conceptually based on twelve Gothic tales written by those orbiting the band, whose complete body - I suppose - makes up the Dodecahedron of the title. Musically, however, there is a greater reliance than usual of acoustic stringed instruments, which help to create an overall atmosphere less elitist than the Daal have accustomed us to feel, with less reliance to electronics ' for the rest less attributable Gothic air that you breathe - and a greater enjoyment of all for a listener tied to the prog in the strict sense, untainted by outside influences.

Moving along the arc of the compositions you can notice musical connective tissue, consisting of synth, hammond and various types of keyboard that move on scales that prog have always formed the essential skeleton, especially for what concerns the Italian way to it. On these elements acoustic and percussive melodies are placed, and melodies, supposed to communicate moods related to the stories already recalled. It thus comes from situations purely Gothic to other more ambient and psychedelic, sometimes absolutely melancholic, dreamy, mellow, almost to intuit following the thread of the images that the music evokes in the soul, without even being aware of that by the listener, suspended on a smoky landscape, which could be as hostile as friendly, but that inevitably remains undefined, just as some inner turmoil that each of us feels, but hardly communicative to others.

This is absolutely the main quality of Dodecahedron, that creep inspired inside - without his wing moves, without showing its muscles, without brutal throwing of open doors, requiring at most to remain ajar, but in a subtle manner, relying the listener to let himself go. All this provides you to tune into a disc of the mood, rather different from the usual one for the audience, accustomed to massive injections of distortion, but also - for what I know - from the previous production license plate Daal.

Immense disc, to listen with the right preparation, possibly with precise notions of Goth and Prog already well metabolized, also appreciating the technical fundamentals of which all the musicians are in the possession, exploring parts of ourselves that perhaps we slightly tend to choke, but they are there because they are human.

The Daal picks up where they left off with "Disorganicorigami", with their own personal style that borrows ideas from Pink Floyd and Tool, Emerson Lake & Palmer and the Balletto di Bronzo, from Echolyn and Magma and mixes, blends and confuses until where they become indistinguishable, original, very individual. The introduction to the CD is given by the dissonances of "Redroom", followed by the powerful "Anarchrist." "Notes from an Interlude" turns back to the style of the opening track before making way for "Level 6666", introduced by a pleasant passage of sitar which introduces a riff that holds the whole piece between steps dreamy moments and very airy.

With the next song in the Daal creates a sequel to "The Dance of the Drastic Navels", one of the most important pieces in the album debut: the piece begins very softly, among other things, a rare vocal intervention (the only one in this album), and then the immersion in into the original and pleasantly fickle style of Daal, with some really hypnotic step. "Cry-Hologenic" again is a very thin piece, with instrumentation which creates for itself almost an accompaniment of sound effects at times as to shiver the skin in a very incisive "story".

"Aglatarium" for about three minutes might seem like a relaxed soundtrack before accelerating and becoming pleasantly disturbing. The title track (apart from the "K" in "Destruktive" has been replaced with a more grammatically correct "C") is the most extreme part of the disc with regard to the deconstruction of preconceived ideas of the song: just the last couple of minutes of the 10 of the song duration propose recognizable and catchy harmonies, while the first part forces the listener to pay attention to the constant surprises. The album closes with "Memories of Old Pictures", dedicated to a friend of Alfio, who in not alive anymore. The piece opens with a poignant solo piano passage, to which sax suggesting a sad song soon adds, nostalgic, as you can expect from the topic. But the friend of Alfio was - you can understand by the dedication to him, written by the musician - a fan of prog. And then in the middle of the piece, the experimentation turns back to be the main protagonist in a passage, worthy of the best Pink Floyd, to close back after to the style with which a song had been opened.

It's an impressive album with the variety of offered styles, all with tremendous skill and taste, which confirms the Daal among the stars of first magnitude of prog world universe.

Today, many people think that creativity and originality cannot exist in a "scenario" where all seems done only to honor and tribute past music. Intelligent people, however, know well that culture is the result of past experiences, and so, know well that every "new opus" will risk always be tarnished by "classics works". Maybe, creativity and originality today should be considered differently. Dodecahedron is an album that does not hide its love for the past, but also a great example of cultural evolution of music that takes lessons from the past with the purpose to surprise and amaze in the present. Its strength lies in the ability to capture and excite the listener simply and without forcing. Its creativity lies in the capacity to portray twelve strange "stories" (10 written by fans) with passion and dedication. Its originality lies in the constant and manic search of right sounds and ideal atmospheres, in order to materializing "stories" through music as better as possible. Dodecahedron is an album where sentiments and emotions, trapped in twelve stories between fantasy and reality, can finally escape and become free through the art of music.

Served black with no milk.

Do you like your progressive moody, intense, almost gothic? Well look no further because Daal created an hybrid machine of RPI and Crimsonesque features, dark as an Italian espresso but rich in flavor and color. Well...er...black is the absence of color, but still a color, right?

With BLACK as a main theme (cd, music, sleeve, art) Daal is a sure value to some who likes the quiet/ loud approach of Anekdoten, with nice viola and lots of stuff to chew on. Although there is no lyrics or chant, Daal is easily entertaining us with their sound, giving a great hommage to the Larks Tongue In Aspic period, without ripping out the bands they like.

Thank you to the good people of Daal for their patience and generosity, this album created a buzz in 2012 and deserves the attention for their effort!

Recommended for goth weddings.

What to wear, what to wear....?

First of all, I'd like to apologise to Daal for the late review, but I have had my hands full the past couple of months. I received this album a cold winter morning, with the black and rather occult looking art work almost blinking at me with a frosty and wintery characteristic to it - as if nature and music secretly had been talking behind my back previously to this occasion. It felt right and preconceived in some weird way.

Daal consist of two fine gentlemen who play a gazillion different instruments. On here they've been assisted by various musicians that take care of bouzouki, cello, flute, electric guitars and some instruments I don't know anything about. Kehru?

What first struck me with Dodecahedron was it's brilliant usage of counter-pointing musical effects. There's a mirroring happening throughout the course of this album, that either comes through distinctive instruments playing up against each other or in the way an otherwise delicate and melodic instrument suddenly changes for something far more snarling and sharp.

King Crimson obviously made this brand of heavy and countering music, when they did Lizard and Larks' Tongues in Aspic, yet it's still rather seldom we come across modern bands who are capable of infusing hard and heavy over and undertones to music - without ever getting near a guitar amplifier and overt heavy metal riffing. Steven Wilson is one of the few who does this successfully currently, he knows how to make music intense and heavy without having to resort to pure metal. It's about feel and energy, and at times rather tumultuous rhythm patterns that again counter something on the other side of the fence. Just like this band actually....

Though Daal put their own spin on it - continuing to draw in inspirations from all over the place. You get quite a bit of fusion, though served up in a strangely metallic dressing that has a ninja like way of numbing your eardrums after the first half of the album. Then there's the ultra modern folk music that only seems to show its head in between the huge and theatrical parts of the album. Pling pling the strings go and suddenly you get hit with great big cascades of washing synths - and together these feel as one, even if they still have that countering effect, that most of this album is full of.

So why the 3,5 stars? Well, I feel I need to be sincere with these guys - after all they did go out of their way to send me a tangible version of the album. So here it goes: I am not really digging the way Dodecahedron was produced. It's a real shame in my humble opinion, because I have completely fallen for the music. If I may, then let me just get back to my earlier King Crimson parallel. I really do think, that part of why an album like Larks' Tongues worked so well, was due to the natural timbre of the instruments - the wooden and earthy texture within the music itself. Had the angular and demanding riffs been subjected to a more sterile production, thereby eradicating every little noise and imperfection - the music would've turned out anodyne and strangely flat. That's my take on it anyway, and I feel the same has happened with this album. The feel these guys are going for would be helped enormously with a more ascetic and raw approach to the production side of things.

There's so much diversity, sprinkling and somersaulting headturners of musical bliss hidden away within this record, I just think they would be far better represented in a different black tuxedo. Still 3.5 stars.

I have finally made myself familiar with this CD I was sent to review months ago. DAAL is a project of Alfio Costa (keyboards) and Davide Guidoni (percussion), both with a long CV including earlier bands in Italy. This album has several guest musicians (reeds, guitars, bass, harp, strings) and it's all instrumental. The twelve parts are untitled, but actually they might as well be titled after the miniature stories they are inspired by. I was also given the poster with those stories, sadly most of them are in Italian which I can't speak. Three of them are in English; they are ghostly, impressioniostic horror stories and very economically told in just a couple of hundred words I suppose.

The closest in sound I have heard is probably ANEKDOTEN from Sweden. The atmosphere is dark and thick, and there are lots of mellotron. I don't think DAAL can be blamed of unoriginality at all. Of course one can name KING CRIMSON (albums such as Lark's Tongues in Aspic) as the starting point of all this kind of sinister and experimental [instrumental] prog. What I appreciate in DAAL is the way they carry on the long prog tradition and sound modern at the same time. The wide variability in instrumentation brings a lot of unpredictability in the listening of this album. There are some strong highlights, e.g. the electric guitar solo in the 8- minute title track (it faintly reminded me of the solo in CAMEL's instrumental 'Stationary Traveller').

The playing is really fine and with lots of nuances. The music is eclectic: you get some ambient, electronic music, jazz and art music. Sometimes it is rather heavy - not aggressive - but it's balanced by more fragile and delicate soundscapes. 'La Torre' is among them. Over 70 minutes of dark instrumental prog can be a demanding task, and I believe I won't put this CD very often into the player. But it could work excellently as a companion to some reading - horror fiction especially!

"Call of the Witches" is an EP of bonus songs, presumably recorded during the 2012 "Dodecahedron" sessions and features 4 tracks that did not fit into the album's mold. I was honored to receive this from the band as a promo gift and if anything, it showcases this duo's unlimited potential, easily taking over the Goblin throne for exemplary cinematographic soundtrack music.

Dark, almost suffocating in deep nihilistic angst, where volcanic eruptions of sound coalesce with ardent synthesized fluttering, the impetuous opener "The Call of the Cthulhu" is about a story published in the pulp magazine "Weird Tales" in 1928. The character was created by writer H.P. Lovecraft who describes Cthulhu as "a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery- looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind". Nice! Obviously, the composition is serenely creepy with slithering echoes, misty tension and perspiring fear amid the synthesized notes. Unsettling piano gives a sense of paranoia, not unlike a de Maupassant/Kafka nightmare, gradually evolving into a grisly tourbillion of phosphorescent sound. Halloween music par excellence!

"Nosferatu" needs of course no introduction, being the vampirism legend of the 1928 film of the same name. Spooky terror, unambiguous menace and resolute doom mark this insufferable shorter ditty, a curious electronic/organic setting that pulsates wildly until a massive church organ blast settles in with dubious authority, amid the wispy synthesizer flickering.

"Witches" is another shorter piece, clocking in at nearly 7 minutes and suggests more creepiness, slightly less masculine than the previous bloodsucking quote and lush with uncomfortable sonics. A slight medieval piano based melody saves this from burning at the stake in Salem, again highly evocative and utterly original.

"Echoes from the Shore" is another epic book-end finale, 11 minutes of exhilarating soundscapes, deliciously ambient and soporific all the way through , with electronic dissonance and percussive oddness slowly creeping into the mix, like rivulets of some evil drug gathering in the blood flow. Highly experimental with little melody or structure, the mood is squarely in the stupor mode, as if strapped to a gurney with blue colored IV units plunging into one's veins. Towards the end, the monotone drumming (hello Mr.Mason!) gives the ominous piece some needed momentum as if arriving at the gates of some kind of liberating finality.

Boo!

4 Sorceress screeches

Imagine if you took one of Pink Floyd's instrumentals, extended it to full album length, and then crossed it with a band of traveling gypsies who were roaming the far corners of the earth putting on a tale of tragedy and loss. If you can't imagine that, well, then it's your lucky day because Daal can play it for you. There really is no other way to describe Dodecahedron but as a complete trip. This is music you can get lost in, that you can let your mind wander through as it lilts and pulses and dances through spacy soundscapes and emotional melodies.

More concretely, I would describe Dodecahedron as falling somewhere between Krautrock and fusion, with additional forays into a more classically influenced sound and even some brief contact with avant-prog. Many of the songs are built around a repeating motif that is gradually developed and elaborated on. The playing is superb throughout; there's a fantastic blending of ambience and chaotic performances, and the variety of sounds used is incredible. There are healthy doses of winds and brass, but vintage synthesizers are also used to great effect, as is the occasional blistering guitar solo.

Perhaps surprisingly, though, for an album that relies so much on ambience, the melodies are also phenomenal. They're incredibly varied as well; Part VI closes out with a somewhat gothic, classical sounding outtro and Part VII immediately picks up with a light, almost bubbly dance of melody that still manages to thematically fit with the track before it. This of course is followed up with the nearly Musique Concrete introduction to Part VIII, yet never does the album feel lost or listless despite the vast range it covers.

If I tried to describe every musical style that appeared on this album it would end up a 2000- word review, so for the sake of the reader I'll abridge those comments somewhat. Rest assured, though, if you can think of a style of progressive rock, it probably appears somewhere here. This album by turns rocks, whispers, groans, drifts, and occasionally even grooves. I have to emphasize again, however, that not once does it ever lose its way. If I had to delve into unwieldy, over-wordy, pretentions metaphors again (and, since I already brought it up, I may as well), I would describe listening to this album as walking through a dark, abandoned castle and finding that it had displayed paintings of the entire universe. The closest (actual) comparison I can find for this is Estradasphere's masterful album Palace of Mirrors; there are stylistic similarities, to be sure, but the real similarity comes in the scope. If you liked that album then don't hesitate to pick up this one.

In short, this album is a wonder. It is exceedingly rare for a purely instrumental album to hold my attention for over an hour, but Dodecahedron is that rare album that not only holds your attention but forcefully pulls it in an immerses it. Words can't really capture everything that this album has to offer, and in fact I fear some of my attempts to connect it to concrete genre labels have been woefully inadequate, but at this point I suppose they're as good as they're going to be. Just know that this is a beautiful, beautiful album that should satisfy even the most distracted of prog fans. Astoundingly good.

5/5

DAAL are back once again with their fourth album in four years. The dynamic duo of Costa and Guidoni offer an array of keyboards and percussion respectively as guests help to fill out the sound. Once again we get Papotto from BANCO on wind instruments, while Salati (THE WATCH) plays guitars. Trabucco (HOSTSONATEN) adds cello and violin while other guests play classical guitar, flute, bass, harp and bouzouki. This is an instrumental concept album divided into twelve chapters. Each track is based on a Gothic short story that has insprired the music. So yes the music here is much darker than what we've heard in the past from DAAL and I for one welcome this change.

"Dodecahedron I" opens in a very spooky manner then the sax comes in as the atmosphere continues. It turns fuller just before 1 1/2 minutes as drums and mellotron storm in. How good is this ! Very ANEKDOTEN-like. A calm 3 minutes in as this haunting guitar takes over with other sounds. Then it kicks back in just before 4 1/2 minutes with that same ANEKDOTEN-like soundscape. Nice. That calm with piano returns just before 6 minutes. The final minute is this spacey but haunting mood as the water drips. "Dodecahedron II" is scary with sounds that echo. It's slowly buiding as other sounds contribute. It kicks in before 2 minutes including mellotron. It's like the melody is going in circles like a merry-go-round. It settles back after 4 minutes to the opening soundscape to end it.

"Dodecahedron III" almost sounds KING CRIMSON-like to start as we get a powerful intro before it settles with piano and strings. Not for long as it kicks back in before 1 1/2 minutes. Back to the calm 4 minutes in as contrasts continue. "Dodecahedron IV" has this melody of piano, drums and strings that goes round and round. "Dodecahedron V" is spooky with sparse sounds until we get some woodwinds. The woodwinds stop as the mellotron comes in. I like this better. Back to the woodwinds 3 minutes in for about a minute when it calms back down to end it. "Dodecahedron VI" is haunting with wind and woodwinds as the sounds of footsteps join in. It turns darker as sounds come and go. The sound starts to pick up after 2 minutes. Great sound a minute later. A haunting calm settles in at 5 minutes then it kicks in with the guitar soaring around 5 1/2 minutes. This lasts until after 7 minutes when the guitar stops and eventually the piano joins the dark atmosphere to end it.

"Dodecahedron VII" sounds cool to start with the mixture of various sounds. This is the shortest track at 3 minutes. "Dodecahedron VIII" is haunting to start with lots of atmosphere. Scary stuff right here. A beat before 1 1/2 minutes joins in. It sounds like an electronic beat. A change 2 1/2 minutes in as chunky bass, drums and a dark atmosphere lead. Excellent stuff. "Dodecahedron IX" has a heavy "Rock" sound with atmosphere and mellotron. A calm with flute before a minute then it kicks back in as contrasts continue. Strings later. Great sounding track.

"Dodecahedron X" opens with the sounds of waves and birds chirping. Music just before a minute as the waves and birds continue. Jazzy sax here in this relaxed soundscape along with piano, drums and bass. Mellow stuff. "Dodecahedron XI" has these different intricate sounds coming and going with a dark atmosphere. Strings follow then horns. "Dodecahedron XII" opens with sparse piano and strings. It builds from there. It settles back 2 minutes in. I like this. Angular guitar before 4 1/2 minutes then a calm with piano and strings. Organ joins in then we get a calm with wind and piano only 6 minutes in. Strings are back 6 1/2 minutes in, flute too.

This is certainly different than their "Destructive Actions Affect Livings" record in that we get more strings, guitar and darkness but both come highly recommended by yours truly.

This second chapter in the Daal saga has some of the same wonderful electronic- drenched creativity found on the debut, but does also follow a more soundtrack-ish route that is not always that successful on first listen, requiring a deeper sense of exploration. . So let's be somewhat original for a change and go straight to the absolute winners here: It all starts quite promisingly after the initial obscure intro by blasting forward with a heavy tune: "Anarchrist" (bold title) is a hard-assed slab of molten synths and propulsive drums, highly forceful and utterly remorseless. The main melody can be perceived as scary, lugubrious and nightmarish with a stubborn woo-woo synthesizer patch that is lethal, like flickering phosphorescent paintballs in the night sky, gigantic mellotron swells blowing hard wind , all conspiring to twirl one's ears sideways and delectably so. The foreboding doomsday qualities verge on psychosis, like a hard psychedelia with heavy metal leanings. Pounding and swooning at the same time. Hmmm! Something even synth guru John Foxx would come up with (that's a colossal compliment by the way). Raw, manic, slightly deranged and frantic, this is pure modern proggy bliss.

"Level 6666" even dares to venture into sitar-laden Eastern swirls, piano clanging, all- encompassing synths and the authoritative drumming all combine to treat the ears like a fine mistress. Serving up sizzling sensations, ethereal covenants with mood and shadow, whilst pruning sonic overkill and staying the course.

"The Dance of the Drastic Navels Part 2" continues the Part1 found on the "Disorganocorigami", a symphonic cacophony with mind-bending rules, extremely dissonant and chaotic, drenched in absolute weirdness and remorseless misdirected confusion. The lysergic qualities can be scary and frightening to the uninitiated but at least its not overt technical bragging that subverts so many progressive "we want to be cool" releases! A nearly 17 minute magic mushroom carpet ride into the ether! The two-sided "Aglatarium" is in the same vein just jazzier, with a wobbly bass rendering and an unexpected saxophone wail, extremely pleasant and then unchallenged, swerving into dense electronica forever so briefly and then just dying serenely. Darn good! The disc ends with the remarkable "Memories of Old Pictures" a piece showcasing the deep progressive roots of the RPI school, ornate elegance, piano and flute in loving embrace. A sultry clarinet adds that Italian spice just at the right moment, deeply poetic and achingly distressing. The film noir mood entirely fascinating! The slow paced morphology into a pulsating electro beat is resolute and defining, signaling a sense of sensorial bewilderment and light paranoia.

Some of the less evident tracks are not to be viewed negatively; they are just a tad more experimental and therefore progressing along their natural path. .

"Noises from an Interlude" is exactly that! A slight sense of filler but at least its brief! "Cry-Hologenic" begins oddly with gentle piano and odd vocal sonics, like some outtake from a sci-fi movie, sweeping hushes and trembling percussives, baby crying in the background, hallucinatory thrills, extremely psychotic and bizarre.

The title track and perhaps band moniker (DAAL) prefers another uncanny adventure into experimentation, this time the xylophone being the main vehicle, supported by gale-storm howls and loads of otherworldly effects , mostly of a percussive nature, as Davide seems to be inspired by Jamie Muir (KC's loony percussor) as he slams every object in sight. This momentous clash between modern computerized sounds and tribal trappings is quite unique and ultimately inspiring. Vibrant and far from minimalistic, there is always some kind of mania set loose (zipping Moog loops, solid drum beats and anguished saxophone blurts)

Easily a proper companion of glorious proportions, Daal constitutes the top echelon of the current Italian scene. Do not miss out on the successful tracks; these are snarly rebellious, conservative odd, sonically concise, utterly crafty and ultimately stellar.

4.5 Moodswings