HERO

One of the lesser known bands of the 70s Italian prog scene, the Udine based HERO also had a very short life. Formed in 1972 by guitarist / bassist Maassimo Pravato, drummer Umberto Maschio and English keyboardist / vocalist Robert Deller, this band only existed for two years. Although the band had already recorded its one and only album in 1972 and attracted the attention of the Pan label, the album's release was delayed when Pravato was killed in a tragic car accident in 1973. The band managed to release this self-titled album in 1974 but had missed the peak years of the prog boom and pretty much went unnoticed and hasn't really been completely rediscovered even to this very day.

A strange odd duck in the world of Italian prog, HERO didn't sound like any other band that was haunting the scene back in those days. A veritable deviation that included classic Italian symphonic prog, HERO also added healthy doses of psychedelia, hard rock and had a propensity for more abstract surreal tracks. The band was also unique in Italy at the time for singing its lyrics in English which added a completely contrasting sound to the romantic operatic bands that sang in the native tongue. Due to Deller's presence, the band took on a distinct English sound that evoked Van der Graaf Generator in the organ department as well as Peter Hammill with the vocals with prog workouts akin to classic King Crimson or Gentle Giant.

Fortified with knotty hard rock prog workouts, the compositors were quite unorthodox with strange twists and turns that somehow kept a larger melodic development only with aggressive and unapologetic time signature workouts much like some of the riffs that Yes or Gentle Giant would craft. The band made great use of atonality and angularity in the vein of what would become known as avant-prog but only in the context of riffing and fills in song format. The music is some of the most surreal that the 70s Italian prog scene had to offer. The music is both energetically heavy and psychedelically weird at the same time perfectly marrying the 60s psych scene with the demanding prog attributes that by 1974 had become increasingly complex (think "Relayer" by Yes, "Octopus" by Gentle Giant and VdGG's "Pawn Hearts" in a heavier style more akin to Atomic Rooster and you're on the right track).

The tracks are all similarly laid out with an overall stylistic approach but some boarder on extra weird such as the avant-garde sounding "Crumbs of the Day" and the rhythmically deranged tango-inspired freakery of "Knock." The longest track "Clapping And Smiling" evokes some Giant Giant meets the keyboard heft of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and at 9 minutes long unleashes the most dynamic prog workouts along with a stellar hard rock lead guitar moment or two plus Krautish moments of psychedelic lysergia. "Dew Drops" is another heavy prog behemoth with a bantering bass groove, adrenalized keyboards and a trippy guitar line and then lots of start / stop moments that offer moments of improv. The track finally becomes a vocal track with slow brooding instrumental sounds accompanying but then the track just becomes scary like Peter Hammill at his moodiest but then it suddenly sounds like Nektar's heavier psychedelic rock. The 46 minute album ends with a beautiful acoustic guitar piece with spoken word poetic prose.

The band earned the reputation as the perfect mix of King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gong and even with the most outsider sounds of German Krautrock in the vein of Virus, Necronomicon and Erlkoenig. Given the predictably melodic nature of almost all Italian prog, this one must've really been too weird for its own good during the day because even in the modern world it sounds utterly unique no matter how many comparisons are drawn. One of the true anomalies in the entire 70s prog scene, much less the Italian one, HERO is a worthy exploration for anyone seeking out the difficult listening section at the prog store but don't let the knotty brutal prog accoutrements throw you off. This one has plenty of lush mellotrons, beautiful melodic sections including gorgeous piano and acoustic guitar moments that make you think they joined the PFM and Banco bandwagon but then they find ways to slay your exceptions as they brandish their avant-garde reveries. I really love this one and would rate it even higher if not for Deller's limited vocal range.