UT

It's no secret that this album, recorded and released at the end of 1972 polarized the band. It brought a temporary end to NEW TROLLS. The reason was guitarist Vittorio de Scalzi wanted to continue the eclectic route of NEW TROLLS and the other guitarist (and vocalist) Nico di Palo favored a hard rock approach. And because of that, the group split, with Nico di Palo forming a group that would become Ibis, and Vittorio de Scalzi, with some legal problems wanting to continue the NEW TROLLS name, had to continue on as N.T. ATOMIC SYSTEM. UT brought in keyboardist Maurizio Salvi, who would hop on to Ibis (in which he was responsible for the wonderful keyboard work to Sun Supreme).

Many people regard "UT" as the high point of the TROLLS career, others call it an uneven mess with some fantastic material and tedious material. I really hadn't notice that problem myself. "Studio" is a classically-influenced piece dominated by piano (there was a short part that almost resembled the opening part of GENESIS' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", and that album wouldn't be seen until November 1974), while "XXII Strada" tends to be a more jazzy. I have felt that "I Cavalieri del Lago Dell'ontario" was one of the album's high points, starting off with a marching beat, but getting in to a wonderful prog groove. I never felt the next piece, "Storia di una Foglia" was particularly progressive, but it's still a nice folk/pop-influenced piece. "Nato Adesso" starts off as a wonderful piano-oriented ballad with the Eminent 310 model organ (which is capable of string synth sounds, which the best known use was on Jean Michel Jarre's "Oxygene", and the basis for the Solina and its American counterpart, the ARP String Ensemble). The song then gets in to an extended guitar solo. The complaint leveled here is the extended guitar solo, but I didn't find it any more a problem than the extended organ solos you find on Le ORME's "Collage" (which I find a particularly underrated album). "C'è Troppe Guerra" is far more heavy than I'm used to on a NEW TROLLS album, in fact it sounds more like heavy metal. I remember years ago someone comparing this to BLACK SABBATH, I can't necessarily disagree there, except even more aggressive (hard to believe). Some of the vocal passages seem unnecessarily somber and out of place to the mainly loud and aggressive passages. The last two cuts are pretty much give or take, pretty much in ballad form with "Paolo e Francesca" and "Chi Mi Può Capire", they aren't bad but not remarkable. But the great stuff is totally killer, and the stuff that many accuse of being tedious doesn't seem that tedious to me. But the music is well produced (something you can't always say of other great Italian prog acts like BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO, SEMIRAMIS, CERVELLO, MUSEO ROSENBACH, etc.).

I highly recommend this album. My rating: 4 1/2 stars