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Demetrio Stratos - Cantare La Voce CD (album) cover

CANTARE LA VOCE

Demetrio Stratos

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

2.35 | 15 ratings

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memowakeman
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars Vocals, vocals, and nothing more!

It is almost mandatory for someone who consider follower of Area, to listen to what it's singer, Demetrio Stratos released as a solo artist, just because you should know what he could do with his voice. With Area he shows his high vocal range and his very unique style, but you know, he was accompanied with an incredible band and created incredible music.

So here with his album called "Cantare la Voce" released in 1978 you will have a completely different taste of Stratos vocals, here you will hear how he plays with it and create some extreme sounds, so please do not expect anything alike to Area while listening to this album and i warn you, this is not easy to listen to at all, actually you need to be on the mood because if you aren't, then you may stop it since the very first song.

Here we go then with it's 5-song album and a total time of 37 minutes which kicks off with the longest track and probably the most irritating, difficult and complex track to listen, it last almost 15 minutes and there is not a single instrument, there are only Stratos vocal chords and his creativity and imagination to create those experimental and hard to describe sounds. In this song all the time he takes a short breath and then strats with a "hmmmm" which at the same time is accompanied with some inner vocal sounds that sounds like some water drops falling somewhere, then, after the first 5 repetitive minutes he makes a stop and some seconds later he shows a different "scream" and playes with his voice making some high and low noises, as i listen, i believe he also uses his hands on his mouth to change a little bit the sound. Then again he changes the tones and starts a new noise, every scream lasts around 10 seconds and then he pauses for a couple of seconds, just in order to start over again, he makes some stange noises that even sound like an engine or something like that, pretty strange, but a clear example of what you will find in this album, so if you could not stand this track, then you better quit, by the way the name of this first song is "Investigazione (Diplofonie e Triplofonie)".

After those almost 15 long minutes, a second song begins immediately so you may think it is the same first one, it is "Passagi 1, 2" and it is about pratically the same, but this kind of noises have a darker feeling on it and the way he plays with his vocal abilities is really stunning, i honestly have tried to produce some of the sounds he makes, but it is simply impossible, the throat hurts and of course there are some tones that only people like Stratos can reach. Some of his noises put some silly faces on me, like wondering how the hell can he do that, there are some noises that even sound like animals.

The next song is "Criptomellodie Infantilli" and honestly is completely annoying, but yet incredible to think how can this man do that. In this song he produce different kind of noises becuase he uses a different vocal style, with ups and downs and several vibrations, i don't know if he is actually saying something, but actually i don't care, this "song" if i can name it song, is my least favourite track of this album, though i honestly do not have a favourite one.

"Flautofonie ed Altro" on the other hand, is just incredible and not annoying at all, since the beginning his voice sounds like some horn or flute something like that reaching a very high range, another incredible thing here is how at the same time he is "singing" there is a sound like if he slaps his face and produces then some different noises, and that is not all, but then there are 3 completely different sounds at the same time, so his vocal performance is superb, showing off how can he do with his voice, so if you want to listen to one specific track, i would recommend you this.

The last track is "Le Sirene", again i dont really understand if he is actually saying something, but since the beginning we will listen to one-syllabe sounds, that continues every single second and gradually becomes more interesting, i think he used a vocal recorder and put it over the sounds, i mean there is not a moment of silence here, there are always something sounding, those one syllable noises and in the middle of those something like a child voice appears all of a sudden, this is an interesting track actually, but again quite crazy and not easy to listen.

This has been one of the most difficult albums i have ever heard, i think even now after reviewing it, i do not really understand it, and believe me i have listened to it several times, so this has also been one of the most difficult reviews i have ever written as well. This is not a progressive rock album at all, so my rating is 2 stars, because it is just for fans and collectors, i do not recommend it to the average PA member, you have to be open mind and know how to listen something completely new and different.

Enjoy it! (or not)

memowakeman | 2/5 |

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