The Italian Prog Appreciation den

It is easier to speak when no one still said nothing. So I chose for this first review the second album of the band Aria Palea, which I'll try to say a few words in my bad English. We are in 98, but listening to the first notes, you can swear this has been recorded in the seventies. After a few vocal incantations and percussions, the first piece, Emba pu'c'éssu, evokes many of the names of the past like Barabba, Delirium, Il biglietto del inferno or Area. A flute immediately sets the tone by wrapping around a jazz rock rhythm, until the singer voice appears and than together they print the particular signature that you will find on the whole album. Abrupt change of atmosphere with the second track, Notturno, where guitar arpeggios and always this magical flute lead us in the heart of a quiet night. This time, some female choirs melt with the gentle lament of the singer, until guitar and drums break the monotony in the last moments of the song. The fifth track on the album, Stella, will introduce folk music again, but with more melodic qualities, making me think a little bit of the first Angelo Branduardi's album. With the third piece, Anze mu : e sentenza approdo, these are the folk roots of the group that are explored. This one is an introduction to the fourth song and heart of the album, L'idea del vuoto. Impossibe here not to think of the greek singer Demetrio Stratos seeking a path into the organized chaos of his band Area. Yet, if the comparison is inevitable, the piece is still great, including beautiful flute and saxophone solos. Back to the folk roots, with the two last songs, Ablura nove quarti and La casa del re, the first longer and more interesting than the second, referring to a popular dance where the singer, this time narrator, tells a story on the background of a noisy guitar. Finally a very nice album, probably a little too much slave to the voices of the past, but where the excellence of the musicians, especially the drummer and flutist, are sufficient to give an original colour. Three stars for me.