THE AKALLABETH

At last! Finally I've managed to put my hands on this CD. You won't be disappointed. "The Akallabeth" is a tasty selection of songs spanning more that 60 minutes. 12 tracks which tell the story of the Fall of Numenor, one of the chapters of "The Silmarillion" by professor J.R.R. Tolkien. The style adopted by Gabriele Manzini, the keyboard player/writer of this opera, is a progressive-hard rock, sometimes new prog (Pallas, IQ), sometimes heavy-folk ala Manowar and sometimes retroprog (ELP, Uriah Heep...). There are not too many prog-technicism but the writing is very careful to the final melody of the track. The "famous" three lead singers are very good in taking the various role of the concept. Damian Wilson (Threshold) is absolutely fantastic and dynamic, Ted Leonard (Enchant) gives a touch of melancholy to the dramatic character of Ar-Pharazon, while Zachary Stevens (Savatage) is a really scaring Sauron. Also the italian singers Francesca "Elayne" Naccarelli (Dunwich) and Gianluigi Girardi give lymph to less fundamental yet important characters. The sound is rich and fresh. Maybe a better budget could have provided a deeper sound, anyway the listening is enjoyable. The lyrics are very faithful to the original story and very evocative. I think that "The Forbidding", "See myself in you" (it could be a great single, very Within Temptation style), "Red clouds war" are really good tracks. Probably my favourite songs are "The Downfallen", 9 epic minutes, and the melancholic final track "The Price" with Damian Wilson absolutely over the top! An unmissable CD for Tolkien fans but also a suggested title for hard-progressive rock lovers.