L'ALCHIMISTA

A pleasantly understated album with appealing symphonic structures throughout; accented but not overpowered by dual female vocalists; and quite sparse guitar accompaniment. There are definite folk leanings on the vocal tracks, but overall this just feels like a bit of a throwback album despite its recording date in the early nineties.

Barrock has been mentioned alongside Renaissance, and I can see the reasons for that, but I also wouldn’t shy away from comparisons to bands like Mostly Autumn and even Stream of Passion, particularly on the first few tracks. This would have been more convincing as a folk album were there more use of ethnic percussion, or maybe some exotic acoustic instrumentation. Or I’d be more inclined to regard it as a solid symphonic album were there layers of strings or even brass employed, but that doesn’t happen either. This is a keyboard fan’s delight, but very unsophisticated as a symphonic prog work.

“Re Artu” and the title track comprise more than half this rather short album, with the bulk of the other tracks being instrumentals steeped in keyboards. The rhythms on this album are mostly rather simple, with a resulting impression of classically-inspired mood music. Of the five instrumentals, “Regina della a luna” has the most modern feel, while the two closing tracks “Al pari degli dei” and “Tarantella” are quite mellow, one- dimensional on keyboards, and frankly rather unambitious.

One comment – the female vocalists on the title track bear a striking resemblance to the Spanish duo Azucar Moreno. Or maybe that’s just me, but I can’t shake the impression they sound just like the Salazar sisters. The instrumental parts are nowhere near that though, so no other comparisons are appropriate, and I'm probably the only one who finds this humorous.

This is a decent album, but I really can’t bring myself to find anything in it to call great, and certainly not essential. Three stars is where this belongs and worth listening to, but probably not worth going out of your way to find.

peace

BARROCK were an Italian act,formed in 1982 by members with strong classical studies and background.Their open minds led them to explore the progressive rock field and in 1985 they released a cassette with satisfying success.BARROCK kept working on new material and at the end of the 80's they were signed by the Japanese label ''Spring Song Co.'',through which they published worldwide their debut album ''L'Alchimista''.As their name indicates,BARROCK's debut is filled with baroque/medieval tunes through the fantastic keyboard work of Giuseppe Vendramin and Valter Poles.Their sound is characterized by the combination of alternating delightful baroque organ/grandiose synthesizers,the classical-inspired Italian vocals of the two female singers and the numerous keyboard/guitar interplays.I find their work quite inventive and original and I recommend it strongly not only for progressive rock fans,but also for admirers of classical/rennaisance/baroque music.A rare yet tasteful work from early 90's!

You know how fantasy band sounds like ? Well, it's exactly how Barrock sounds. It' hard to describe, I spend many hours (when I was growing up) by playing games and this music (Overture is beginning, then more prominently in Re Artu and further in next songs) simply reminds me game music.

Instruments doesn't seem strong at all, I dare to say that they sounds little bit like MIDI music. Maybe it's because of continuing curse of unfortunate decade 80's. Strange choice of synthesizers with weak drums (I had to equalize a lot to even hear them). There's also strong medieval feeling.

4(-), I wanted to give worse, but except bad feelings that I had first minutes, there's nothing so bad. It's quite a lot electronized album, but RPI influence is strong here.

Behind a truly ghastly cover, there are some truly great music.

I am a fan of all music with big sound and over the top melodies. In short, I am a fan of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Barrock is pretty much exploring this musical territory on this, their debut album. Add bands like Mostly Autumn, Osanna and Renaissance to and you get this album.............. more or less.

The female vocals here are good. But most of all, this album is dominated by Valter Poles tangents. The rest of the band too is making this into a great album. An album which is a great crossover between the symphonic prog and the RPI scene.

Although this album has some mediative pointless pieces where little is happening, this album has some great pieces of music too. The best ones is Re Artu - Suite and the title track. Yes, the music feels a bit "heard this before", but it is still great. Mostly due to Valter Poles. My gripes is the lack of one or some signature tracks and the pling-plong stuff. But it is still a great album........ hidden well behind this ghastly cover.

4 stars (barely and bordering to three stars)