ALTARE THOTEMICO

On the one hand i'm surprised at how many amazing albums have been coming out of Italy the last ten years, on the other hand when I consider the body of work that has come out of this country in the seventies how could these new groups not be inspired to greatness. ALTARE THOTEMICO are an excellent example of a band who has clearly been inspired by AREA and the Avant side of Progressive music and have given us their unique take on it. Don't let the serene cover art fool you.

"Il Conto Che Sprofonda" is pastoral to start including flute and intricate guitar melodies. Beautiful stuff. A TULL vibe appears and leaves quickly when it kicks in at 1 1/2 minutes. Drums 2 minutes in with some nice bass too. Floating organ joins in. This is so good as the vocals arrive. Emotion. Great tune ! "Lo Sciamano" opens with drums and bass then keyboards arrive. Nice. Vocals follow. It settles with piano before 3 minutes and fragile vocals join in too. Drums follow as it builds. Great sound. Everything sounds so amazing here. Powerful too. A spacey calm 7 1/2 minutes to end it. "L'interessante Vita Del Topo" sounds so good when it settles in. Kind of jazzy here including theatrical vocals. A strong AREA flavour before 3 1/2 minutes. A guitar solo after 6 minutes.That AREA vibe is back again to end it.

"Demon" opens with organ then it kicks in before a minute.Vocals too. He repeates "My name is demon" a few times late. A really good energetic track. "Computer Organico" has some killer atmosphere and vocals early on. Insane vocals but amazing (haha). It kicks in after 3 minutes with keyboards, drums and vocals standing out. A calm and a bass solo 5 minutes in then it builds. "L'addormato" opens with keyboards then it settles back when the vocals arrive. It''s DFA-like here.The tempo continues to shift. It's kind of spacey and haunting to end it. "La Mente Mia" starts with synths and flute. Guitar and drums take over as vocals join in. Cool song as it continues to play out. "Suite Per Marianna" is mellow with flute as reserved vocals join in. It's fuller before 2 1/2 minutes.The mood turns darker then we get a mellow final minute. "Oltre" opens with flute and a light beat. Reserved vocals join in. Some vocals outbursts with electric piano and the vocals do get theatrical. It picks up 5 minutes in then settles before 6 minutes and it's sort of spacey too.

Easily 4 stars and an album not only for the adventerous, but one AREA fans should check out as well.