FLEKTOGON

It is incredible not only the amount, but the quality of some bands that are unknown to you and when you listen to them, you just say "wow", why didn't I discover them before?. Well this happened to me with this Italian band called Nodo Gordiano, a band that has been working since the mid 90's, and have released so far 3 albums, being this their latest work entitled "Flecktogon". An album that lasts 53 minutes approx, and that contains only 5 tracks, being one of them a surprisingly exquisite 30-minute epic. It kicks off with "Theatro di Memoria", the first minute has only some choral vocals, but then an ambient of tension starts with the guitar sound, and some seconds later drums and bass join, that same ambient of tension prevails and slows down at minute 3, where you will hear only a constant guitar along with female vocals that puts some dark mood to the music that disappears a couple of minutes later when there is a powerful eruption inside the song, same that lasts just for a moment in order to return to that dark-female vocals- mood, and again, returning to the eruption moment and finishing the song with a great form. A very nice introduction to the album!

The next song is "Ozymandias Part I", which is very different to the previous one, so the band let us know that they can use several musical elements in order to compose different but in some way, connected songs. This one is a short song that contains percussion, which gives to the music a kind of dark, chamber or avant-garde mood; it is a beautiful instrumental composition.

And then, we have that long epic called "Avventure di Mastarna" which as I mentioned above, lasts 30 minutes. I have heard several boring epics, but this time I was really pleased and surprised by the high quality of this composition. There are lots of musical elements inside this piece that sums up an extraordinary epic, full of experimentation and creativity. It starts with something that reminds me like an acoustic guitar but with some oriental sound, don't really know how to explain it, then little by little the drums enter and a new sound begins, something more powerful and addictive to the listener, the bass notes are excellent and the synth effects are an excellent complement. The same structure continues during some minutes, but the colorful use of sounds makes the song even better, because they are always experimenting and playing something different into the same structure, hope you get what I mean. After minute 5 the atmosphere changes a little bit, the structure is the same so we can appreciate the musician's creativity, there is a moment where the bass takes the leadership. And then, at minute 8 the song makes a little stop, the music out but just in order to build up something new, the atmosphere is now of tranquility and relaxation, it's like taking a breath after the nervous and powerful first part. Then, there are some experimentation moments where the song does not have a structure itself, they are just playing with some sounds but a few seconds later there is a hypnotizing synth sound along with softly played guitars, but then all of a sudden a strong saxophone appears along with also strong bass notes, this moment in particular remind me to my beloved Mexican band Cabezas de Cera, so as you guess, I enjoy this moment a lot. It also reminds me to some King Crimson moments, I guess they may have taken some elements of them as inspiration. Then, they continue experimenting but what they create every minute is different to the previous one, that is what I really like of it, their capacity of combining and experimenting. The last part of the song builds up a new and interesting structure, with constant drumming and great bass lines, alone with those captivating synth effects that make you feel interested with what you are listening. A great epic!!!

The next song is the second part of "Ozymandias", again what predominate here are the percussion, tranquility at first, but then when drums enter a sensation of don't knowing what is going to happen appears, but the drums keep sounding, reminding me this time to Crimson´s Thrak passages, so it's like a drum solo for two minutes, then the other percussion instruments appear, along with a delicate electric guitar.

And the album finishes with "Zeitgeist" which starts with another addictive bass line, accompanied with some drums here and guitar there, the sound here is more alike to the first part of the epic, something stronger than the Ozymandia´s tracks for sure, where the musicianship is noticeable and the music keeps being captivating, I like a lot the bass lines here actually, and the atmosphere created gives a very eclectic flavor to the music. There is a little stop at minute 3, then some distorted guitar and later it returns to the strong structure. A very nice song to finish this great album.

As you could notice, I am happy with this album due to it's eclecticism and experimentation, I honestly believe it is not so easy to dig, but once you do it, you will love it. My final grade is 4 stars, since I really recommend it, and once again, it proofs that prog rock from Italy is always alive and strong.

Special thanks to glover, for letting me know about Nodo Giordano.

Enjoy it!

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