BANI AHEAD

In 2011 Slivovitz returned with their third album, and there had been a few line-up changes in that singer Ludovica Manzo was no longer involved and they had a new drummer in Stefano Costanzo. It was no surprise to see that the guys were now a completely instrumental act as there is just no room in their music for vocals. The band were obviously not content to rest on what they had achieved with the previous album either as here they are taking a more aggressive stance with stronger guitar presence and a real edge from the brass. On top of this they move more into the avant-garde area, challenging the listener but never moving too far wars from their fusion roots. Take opener "Egiziaca" for example, it may start with some hard rock riffs but moves through avant-garde and chaos only to turn into a highly complex jazz fusion that could be John McLaughlin and Santana at their finest when working with a big band.

It is an album that is hard to take off the player once it makes its' way on as it is just so good. They run with freedom when they wish, swapping the lead roles between every one of them, yet at other times they knuckle down to complex harmonic jazz that has purpose and delivery. This is much more than just moving an electric rock guitar into the jazz area, using the odd violin and then calling it fusion. This is the real deal. www.moonjune.com