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Il Castello Di Atlante - Sono Io Il Signore Delle Terre A Nord CD (album) cover

SONO IO IL SIGNORE DELLE TERRE A NORD

Il Castello Di Atlante

Rock Progressivo Italiano


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lor68
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars This is their best effort so far (in the vein of "Quella Vecchia Locanda"), but it doesn't add anything new to such standard set into the Romantic style of the Italian Prog Scene in the seventies. The production is quite week, even though the violin arrangement is good and synths remarkable enough too (and despite also of all their vintage keyboards being a little bit poor!!). However the unique problem is connected with their lack of natural inspiration;otherwise both the execution and the music harmony can be regarded as remarkable examples of their derivative style, unfortunately being not supported by a great vocalist!!

Interesting even though not completely essential!!

Report this review (#1380)
Posted Monday, May 3, 2004 | Review Permalink
2 stars I really love Italian Prog, but this album was almost completly unnecessary. Repetitive, bored, narcolepthic. There is just one song that make me feels like I am really listening prog, "La Foresta Dietro Il Mulino Di Johan". The other songs are really... well, at least bored and cold. Maybe just for all those who really-really are obsessed with Italian Prog... Sad but true...
Report this review (#40389)
Posted Tuesday, July 26, 2005 | Review Permalink
apps79
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars CASTELLO DI ATLANTE must have break a Guinness record,as it took the band almost 18 years to release their first official album in 1992 under the title ''Sono io il signore delle terre a nord''.The band was formed back in 1974 but,as a lot of bands of the time,they didn't manage to release a record.In this time of 18 years the band released only some promo/demo tapes with not much interest by the music companies.Despite the ignorance and the difficulties,the basic line-up of CASTELLO DI ATLANTE managed to survive until the early 90's,when the Vinyl Magic label show some interest in them and finally the band published their first work...

The traditional italian symphonic rock sound is more than evident in this work.The production of the album is a little bit weak,but the arrangements are mostly very strong,creating a satisfying result.The sound of the album is somewhere between QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA and BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO of course somewhat distorted by the use modern technologies in instrumentation.Dark,romantic,balanced in complexity yet accesible and melodic,this album will leave speechless everyone who is deep in the RPI genre.Most of the songs are full of tasteful violin work,the fast piano passages are very strong and the interplay between them is the strongest point of the album!The vocals of in this album are also decent very much in the vein of the romantic expressive vocals of the 70's bands.However the keyboards' sounds,where added,are somewhat cheesy reminding more of pomp-rock bands and this is the most weak point of the production.The guitars are also tasteful and melodic,flirting sometimes with neo-prog,but this sound comes very natural rather than the band has ever heard to a neo-prog band...

This band hasn't just a lot of talent,the members of CASTELLO DI ATLANTE have grown and matured musically during the harsh time of these 18 years.Their debut album is a definition of italian symphonic prog despite the weak production and the lack of strong personality.3.5 stars for their long-awaited debut...

Report this review (#190231)
Posted Sunday, November 23, 2008 | Review Permalink
3 stars The debut album from this RPI band will never enter the top ten list of best ever debut albums, I am afraid.

Il Castello Di Atlante was originally started back in 1974, but this album is from 1992. The material here is pretty old too and feels pretty dated. The music is based in RPI, but also have some influences from pomp prog (Saga) and folk rock (Strawbs). The sound and the mix is dubious, to say at least.

On the other hand, the songs are actually quite good. After a dubious opening song, the album really kicks off with the very good La Foresta Dietro Il Mulino Di Johan. The rest of the album follows in the same vein with violin, tangents and guitars dominating the sound. The vocals too are very good.

This album is Il Castello Di Atlante's weakest album, but it is still a good album. I liked what I heard and I found most of this album enjoyable. And that is all I ask for.

3 stars

Report this review (#305540)
Posted Tuesday, October 19, 2010 | Review Permalink
andrea
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Il Castello di Atlante were formed in Vercelli in the mid seventies but it wasn't until 1992 that they had the chance to release their first album, "Sono io il Signore delle Terre a Nord" (I'm the Lord of the Northern Lands), thanks to the independent label Vinyl Magic. The line up here features Dino Fiore (bass), Aldo Bergamini (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Paolo Ferrarotti (drums, vocals), Roberto giordano (piano, keyboards, vocals) and Massimo Di Lauro (violin, keyboards) and the overall sound is surprisingly fresh and up to date. Il Castello di Atlante were influenced, of course, by British and Italian prog bands like Genesis, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso but they managed to shape an original sound and their song-writing is quite good. The result is an amazing debut album full of passion and dreams.

The opener "Tirando le somme" (Drawing the conclusions) is a reflexive track about the meaning of happiness. A steady marching beat and keyboard waves set the atmosphere and a question rises... Who is greater, a powerful king coming back from a victorious battle or a happy gnome? Well, when you have the death inside you, you can't be happy, even if you are the greatest of the kings... "Is it really so sad to be as tall as the stem of a flower?...".

The long and complex "La foresta dietro il mulino di Johan" (The forest behind Johan's mill" begins softly with acoustic guitar and violin, then a piano pattern leads to a darker mood. The piece is about the fear of an impending obscure destiny knocking on your door. You can shout loud your questions about your fate into the wind but only the spirit of the old forest can hear you... and it laughs! Fear spreads its tentacles in you and you can't do nothing but close your eyes and delay for a short time the upcoming reality while the weight of silence becomes overwhelming... "Future will be knocking at your door anyhow / Future will be knocking at your door anyway!"

"Il saggio" (The wise man) is a delicate and melancholic ballad about time passing by. Listen to the sound of the pouring rain, it's the same sound you could listen to in your childhood, it's the same sound you could listen to when you grown up... "Now I listen to the sound of the rain falling in my solitary hermitage / My hair is white and I'm indifferent to everything around me / And on the doorsteps the rain is still falling, drop after drop, until my new morning...".

"Semplice ma non troppo" (Simple but not too much) is a nice and lively instrumental piece full of energy where the musicians express all their joy of playing together.

"Il pozzo" (The well) is a beautiful acoustic track with a strange medieval taste that could remind of some Angelo Branduardi's works. Lyrics describe a strange journey. Like in Lewis Carroll's novel "Alice in Wonderland", the protagonist of the song explores a magic world that lies behind the images mirrored by the water down in a well... "Master Spider leads the way / The imagine mirrored at the bottom of the well is reality...".

"Non c'è tempo" (There's no time) is e melancholic piece featuring good harmony vocals and some nervous passages. Sometimes everyday life is full of compromises and hard to endure... "The wet asphalt reflects the colours of the morning / I listen to the sound of my steps echoing in the street... There's no time to think, there's no time to talk / There's no time to dream, there's no time to be happy / There's no time to love...".

"Estate" (Summertime) starts softly with a piano solo intro. Here music every now and again could remind of Procol Harum, the atmosphere is pastoral and lyrics describe a hot summer day in the country... "On the horizon shines that coloured bow / It's like the touch of a painter on this new summer...".

"Il vessillo del drago" (The dragon's banner) is a perfect finale for this excellent album. Medieval influences are blended with powerful rock passages and evocative images... "I'm the Lord of the Northern Lands / Under my banner you will fight...".

A must for every Italianprog lover!

Report this review (#347198)
Posted Wednesday, December 8, 2010 | Review Permalink
kenethlevine
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog-Folk Team
5 stars Some bands rush to market with little material, but usually they can draw on more for their first releases than subsequently, which might explain why peaking early is more the norm than the exception. However, it's hard to imagine a scenario where a band needs to wait 18 years before blessing the public beyond their neighbors' living rooms. If Il Castello Di Atlante can be judged on the basis of their debut, I would say that it was time well spent.

In the tradition of violin dominated 1970s RPI groups like PFM and QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA, this band deserves considerable credit for this 1992 offering which can be distinguished from those predecessors by a more Celtic folk feel on at least half the tunes, while still decidedly symphonic in nature. It's specifically the violin which is played in a more earthy manner, but the melodies and, in some cases, vocal styles also support this assessment. It's far more vivacious than ERIS PLUVIA's equally significant 1991 disk, while still mentionable in the same breath. But better points of comparison come much later in the form of SILVER LINING and FAVERAVOLA, heady company indeed.

Highlights are pretty much endemic here, with only the opener (possessing some excellent but also trite keyboards) and the plodding GEORGE WINSTON and PROCOL HARUM-influenced "Estate" being short of dazzling. In particular, "La Foresta Dietro Il Mulino Di Johan" is a progressive tour de force and the most adventurous piece, with many always charismatic shifts in vocals, instrumentation and pace. "Il Saggio" is a grand ballad with a few sprigs of far eastern ginger and exquisitely timed bells. "Il Pozzo" accentuates the folk influence down to the verse meters, still interpreted with devotion to the original idiom and the group's own vision. Perhaps ANGELO BRANDUARDI and STEFANO TESTA could be an earlier reference point. "Non C'e Tempo" has a Breton feel especially in the vocals, adulterated by 1980s styled thumping bass that somehow works. The album closer is pure genius right down to its placement. It begins as a lively almost jig like main tune on fiddle gives way to a breathless and brief vocal section with various rapid-fire shifts in mood before dreamily expounding on an equally compelling melody carried mostly on strings and bass. The pace intensifies leading into the return of the main theme, and a fitting finale it is.

Another gem from the dawn of the early 1990s progressive revival in Italy, this achievement is a striking example of perseverance in the progressive community, and one that can be lorded over naysayers north and south.

Report this review (#547566)
Posted Monday, October 10, 2011 | Review Permalink
seventhsojourn
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars If you look into their history you'll see that Il Castello di Atlante's roots lie in the early seventies although it wasn't until 1992 that they released their debut album. This particular work might be made a little less alluring by cover artwork that's suggestive of a Heavy Metal release, but in reality the album takes the Italian melodic tradition as its starting point and enriches it with marvellous folk and classical detail. The reliance on violin is a key element in this respect and Il Castello di Atlante really hit on a winning formula with their pairing of violin and romantic melodies.

'La Foresta Dietro Il Mulino Di Johan' is typical of the band's best work with the plaintive airs of Massimo Di Laura's violin profiled against a meshwork of backdrops. On a couple of other tracks they proudly unfurl the colours of their musical inspiration, with fragments of 'Tubular Bells' in the finely shaded violin of 'Il Saggio' and with the influence of 'A Salty Dog' that ambles into 'Estate'. The latter features a wonderful piano intro to boot.

RPI and Symphonic fans can't really go too far wrong with any of Il Castello di Atlante's albums although I wouldn't say this is one of their strongest. This one's methodical rather than inspired and it's almost as if the sixteen years they had to develop these songs had in fact atrophied the originality and excitement in them, as if they lost something in the past. It's less like the decorous landscapes of the countryside and more the bland magnolia-land of the suburbs. It's good but not essential.

Report this review (#564757)
Posted Wednesday, November 9, 2011 | Review Permalink
3 stars It strikes me that any useful evaluation of a Progressive Rock album ? an assessment of its worth ?always ultimately addresses, at some level, the issue of authenticity. To evaluate an album only according to criteria of personal preference or taste surely amounts to little more than a supreme act of arrogance. How can critics condemn or elevate an album if the grounds upon which they proceed are purely subjective? How often have we read a highly positive review of an album that we also enjoy and then, believing that this critic must share our own taste, acquire another album upon his or her recommendation only to experience much disappointment when it fails to meet our expectations? Surely a more objective footing is necessary, therefore, if we are to trust any evaluation. Perhaps this is one reason why some notion of authenticity, with all its connotations of 'faithfulness to an original' or the 'personal integrity of the musicians' has become so central to debates regarding Progressive Rock. In this respect I can safely declare that 'Sono Lol Il Signore Delle Terre a Nord' by the Italian Group Il Castello di Atlante is an album with impeccable Progressive Rock credentials. From its series of lengthy and relatively complex tracks which often employ both conventional and non-conventional 'Rock' instruments (Violin, Classical Guitar, etc.) to better achieve a loud-soft musical dynamic, to its obviously non-commercial aesthetic (the band's name, alone, is unlikely to attract any pop-media mogul) this is a thorough piece of Progressive Rock according to any criteria. But is it any good? Well, the musicianship is reasonably impressive without ever achieving any degree of virtuosity. The violin playing, however, is a little unconvincing and seems to often and unnecessarily replace the role of an evidently competent lead guitarist, and the band, without extravagance or flamboyancy, offers some pleasant and cleverly wrought compositions. The mellifluous vocal style of the singer is particularly impressive and is given more charm by the lyrics sung in Italian which, even if they are meaningless to anyone not fluent in the language, at least sound suitably poetic ? I presume, anyway, that they are of more depth than the 'OK Barbie Let's Go Party' style of Pop lyricisation. But such comments, I suppose, only reflect my personal taste. So, if Progressive Rock is to your liking ? and I assume, if you are reading this review, that it is, you might well enjoy this album. But, then again, you might not.
Report this review (#607430)
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2012 | Review Permalink

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