UT

This is the final New Trolls album before their discography disintegrates into a confusing morass of competing factions and reunions. On the one hand, it's nice that before conflict broke out within the band that they were able to put together a really strong album for 1972 - the year that the Italian prog boom which they had played such an important part in laying the groundwork for really exploded. (They also put out Searching For a Land in the same year, but that was hampered by awkward English lyrics and even more awkward band conflicts.) On the other hand, it illustrates why whilst New Trolls might have been pioneers of Italian prog, they'd never quite be the top-tier masters that groups like Banco, PFM, or Le Orme would become in their prime.

The album sees them shift to a hard rock mode for much of it, with some of it approaching Black Sabbath levels of intensity before elements of soft rock start creeping in for the two closing numbers. If that sounds bizarre, well, it is: UT is the sound of New Trolls having a serious personality crisis right in front of the listener. Moreover, because the band goes to a more hard rock approach than previously, they're effectively evolving backwards to earlier musical styles just as other Italian prog bands are adapting the cutting edge of progressive rock to their own particular styles, with the result that whilst this album would have been revelatory coming out in 1970, compared to the other Italian prog great releases of 1972 it seems a little behind the times.

With the passage of time, of course, this is less of an issue, and there's a lot to like about the album - it's probably my favourite Trolls release. But with the band flailing for a distinctive identity or personality which they just couldn't settle on, I fear it also represents the peak of their accomplishment, not a foundation for future success.