THIRD EYE LIGHT

In 1992 Alessandro Serri left Eris Pluvia, followed a bit later by Edmondo Romano.The two of them formed the Folk-oriented duo of The Ancient Veil, while Romano would be later involved in several Fabio Zuffanti projects.The band continued for a short time with Narrow Pass'es Mauro Montobbio on guitars and new singer Alessandro Conti and played numerous lives in Italy and France, before another guitarist, Davide Marrari, was recruited in 1994.Since 1995, although not practically disbanded, Eris Pluvia stopped their live activity.In 2001 shades of life reappeared as the band set up its own Mister Sound Studio and in 2005 guitarist Matteo Noli and drummer Daviano Rotella joined the band for the recordings of a second album.The sessions begun in 2009 and, with a few guests on flute, guitar and vocals, Eris Pluvia returned in 2010 with ''Third eye light'' on BTF.

Almost twenty years after the great debut Eris Pluvia seem to have not lost a single vibe of the sound that made them a pretty original group.Their musicianship remains highly melodic, sensitive and emotional with emphasis on smooth guitar plays, the constant presence of pastoral flute lines and the slightly accented English lyrics.Although far from adventurous, the album contains many soft, semi-symphonic interplays and they sound pretty close to Polish band QUIDAM, drawing influences from the Italian Prog scene and the elaborate music of CAMEL to present atmospheric and mostly melancholic soundscapes full of interesting guitar solos and pastoral, folky textures.Performing now in 2010, they appear to have upgraded their sound and placed it a little more far from the 70's aesthetics and inches closer to mellow Neo/Symphonic Prog.Paolo Raciti's work on keyboards seems to be rather complementary and his main executions are limited to the sweet piano preludes dominating the album next to some acoustic orientations.Part of the majestic, outlandish passages of the debut are absent from this release, which is nonetheless a strong album of atmospheric, CAMEL-esque Progressive Rock.

Exactly when the band was back alive and well, the prog world was shocked in August 2011, when Paolo Rastici suddenly passed away.The rest of the band kept performing as a memorial to him, playing some gigs in music scenes.

This could have been called ''Rings of earthly light vol.2''.Pretty similar to Eris Pluvia's debut, lacking some of the best moments of the first album, but still offering some well-crafted and melodic Progressive Rock.Recommended.