Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Mangala Vallis - The Book of Dreams CD (album) cover

THE BOOK OF DREAMS

Mangala Vallis

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

3.61 | 73 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer
3 stars MANGALA VALIS are a three piece band from Italy who took their name from a place in a Jules Verne novel. Actually this record is a concept album that is dedicated to the great French writer Jules Verne.There are 6 guest musicians taking part on this record including 3 singers.

Things start with "Overture" a short, spacey and haunting instrumental. "Is The End The Beginning ?" features the vocals of Matteo Setti who sounds so much like Neal Morse that you would think your listening to a SPOCK'S BEARD tune. This is an uptempo song with organ, drums and guitar leading the way, with some good bass lines as well. 3 1/2 minutes in the melody stops except for the waves of mellotron and then back to the original melody. Again he sounds so much like Mr.Morse. Matteo sings again on the second song "The Book Of Dreams" that opens with drums and mellotron as the keyboards come in.There is more of a GENESIS sound to this one and some vocal arrangments that bring to mind GENTLE GIANT. "The Journey" is the longest song and features Vic Fraja on vocals. I like his vocals the best of the three, he reminds me of the singer for MARYGOLD. The song opens with acoustic guitar, vocals and a keyboard melody.Things change 4 minutes in with some nice guitar melodies and drums as the keys swirl about. About 5 minutes go by before we hear Vic sing again as the soundscape becomes quite dreamy the rest of the way.

"Days Of Light" is such a good song. With Vic again on vocals this one has GENESIS written all over it, right from the first notes. This is a slower paced song that is so uplifting at times and features two sax solos. "Under The Sea" is an instrumental with some good ripping guitar, mellotron and drums as again the keyboard swirls about. Organ comes in later. "Asha (coming back home)" is next, and it almost sounds like Phil Collins singing, but it's Vic again.This song is another highlight on the album, so uplifting and yes it's GENESIS sounding. "A New Century" features Bernardo Lanzetti from PFM on vocals.This sounds so much like GENESIS with the acoustic guitar and mellotron.Things change 4 minutes in as it gets dark and serious but that doesn't last for too long before we have some beautiful, uplifting guitar.

I really like this record, I know for some it probably sounds too much like GENESIS but if that does't bother you then it's worth checking out. 3.5 stars.

Mellotron Storm | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this MANGALA VALLIS review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.