THE SPAGHETTI EPIC 3 - THE GREAT SILENCE

Ever since I discovered the great Colossus releases I follow them and look if there's anything new under the sun. And here we have found one: Spaghetti Epic no.3, The Great Silence. Somehow I'm still missing out on no.2 but no.1 was intriguing enough so I decided to go for this new release. Three epics are on this release.

Little tragedies is a new kid on the block from Russia and boy are these guys making a name for themselves! Fierce and super fast keyboards is their trademark, that's obvious after hearing this track. And what about great melody and tremendous compositional talent ? This is truly an amazing track that completely blew me away from first till last minute. At times it reminds me of Covenant but this is much more catchy. Masterpiece track for me ! 5 stars.

Yesterdays is from Hungary and I never heard of them either. But also these great musicians are highly impressive. Some original synthesizersounds in the first minute followed by very nice organ set the tone here. This epic is far more varied than the first one, more like most Colossus epics I heard in the past. But from a new band hearing such high quality stuff is a delicious surprise of course. Bull's eye contracting by Colossus I call this. Taking a risk and get rewarded for it, that's how I like it. 4,75*.

N.O.T. is an Italian progressive band and in most cases I'm not to keen on those. But every now and then there is a nice exception coming by and this is one of them. If I have to compare them to one of the two other epics it's absolutely the second. Also this huge effort by N.O.T. is very variegated. I like the part from 3:00 till 7:00 which is a tremendous instrumental effort with great build up. But also after this passage the quality remains very high. One of the best Italian efforts in Colossus history for sure, at least for my taste. 4,75*.

Looking at the ratings for each epic there's no escaping for the full score here. Am I exaggerating if I do that ? I really don't think so. I know just about all the Colossus releases and there were also a few 3 star and a four star rating amongst them. My huge love for epics doesn't blind me, on the contrary: I'm very critical in my judgement with the long songs. But I can't think of any reason to give this less than 5 stars. Extremely recommended for all proggers and especially the Colossusfans and epicfreaks

The third installment in Colossus Projects Spaghetti Epic series is yet another fascinating number in the series; continuing the high quality that is the trademark of most anything where Finnish Colossus Magazine is involved.

Littl Tragedies gets the honours of opening this album, and serve up on of the absolutely best compositions to tbe featured in this series. Organs, synths and keyboards dominate in a symphonic celebration covering most aspects of what's good in this stylistic expression - the 19 minutes this one lasts is a pure pleasure from start to finish.

Romanian/Hungarian outfit Yesterday is next, contributing with a track containing many intriguing parts, including a neat folk-tinged passage, but ultimately this one is too broken up to work as a whole.

N.O.T. finish this venture with an epic track that should intrigue most everyone fond of the particular Italian-styled symphonic rock. A tad patchy in places; but quite a few truly astounding passages makes up for most of this.

A strong release overall, where the opening number is a reason good enough to investigate this production.

Have you ever... , Did you sometimes ... , Well (this word always works), I though about what could be so special about third installment into this series. And when I heard this, I though to myself that it's very bad first few seconds of track. I expected western-like prog, no these crazy synths. But never mind, once I shook my shock, I get accustomed to perfect, increasingly strong composition, because this is not just song. First track is growing each minute, until dying animal-like sound of synth in the end, perfect conclusion. And Russian sung vocals are, well, typical for them. Second and third tracks are more calm, especially Yesterdays, which I know from their solo album (funny, I can't remember its name, too complex for me, something like Holden...). Very different, full of shorter tracks. Epic was probably big task for them, but they made it well. And last groups is like connection between these two.

4(+), except there is nothing of RPI, or western here, it's perfect, mostly instrumental album full of original compositions. Must have for all fans of newer prog rock.

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Posted Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | Review Permalink

The Musea/Colossus collaboration presents on this progrock project (from 2008) three progrock bands, each with an epic composition.

First Little Tragedies from Russia with a track entitled The Voice Of Silence (19.30). The music deliver lots of spectacular bombastic parts with dazzling synthesizer runs and ELP inspired Hammond work. We can also enjoy exciting interplay between flowing guitar/keyboards and powerful saxophone/organ, fuelled by a propulsive rhythm-section. Very subtle is the blend of flamenco rhythm guitar in some parts, it gives a special flavor to the music.

Then Yesterdays from Hungary with the song Suite Pauline (20.00), in comparison with their contribution to the 4-CD CD box Dante's Inferno, the emphasis is less on folk and more on Seventies keyboard oriented symphonic rock. It contains many changing climates and interesting musical ideas with wonderful work on vintage keyboards, often in duel with other instruments: choir-Mellotron and electric guitar, reed organ and Glockenspiel, trumpet/violin- Mellotron and classical guitar with flute. I also enjoyed a part with the impressive church-organ sound and an interlude featuring an exciting duel between drums and choir- and violin-Mellotron, joined by Fripperian guitarwork, goose bumps!

Finally the Italian formation N.O.T. with the song Epilogo (23.28): it sounds very alternating and dynamic with many bombastic climates featuring powerful Hammond work, flashy synthesizer runs, howling electric guitar, pleasant Mellotron waves, often very compelling. The music reminds me of early King Crimson and Outer Limits, especially in the final part with sumptuous violin-Mellotron waves, propulsive electric guitar play and powerful drums.

Another interesting album from Musea and Colossus, especially the vintage keyboard aficionados will be delighted!

My rating: 3,5 star.

One of the many ambitious projects from the Finnish Colossus Society in collaboration with the outstanding progressive label Musea Records, The Colossus Project has unleashed a treasure trove of various artists concept albums that aren't afraid to exercise all the prog pomp excesses that make the genre so dynamic. THE SPAGHETTI EPIC 3 - THE GREAT SILENCE as the name implies is the third part of epic concept albums that are dedicated to the great spaghetti western craze of the 1960s. A strange thematic bedfellow with the likes of knotty symphonic prog but nevertheless Musea has cranked out at least 4 of these spaghetti western tributes and many deem this third installment as the best!

This particular tribute is dedicated to the Sergio Corbucci film THE GREAT SILENCE which was a 1968 revisionist spaghetti western film that tackled the usual plot of bounty killers and outlaw activities which were all the rage in Europe and was the continent's version of the US based westerns which were also very popular during the 1950s and 1960s. While cowboy visions and dreams are not exactly the subject matter of prog, this single album of three tracks which features Little Tragedies (Russia), Yesterdays (Romania) and N.Ø.T. (Italy) does an amazing job of crafting amazingly beautiful prog if not always highlighting the zeitgeist of a nostalgic film craze. Unlike the many double album editions of the Colossus Project, this one is a mere collection of three tracks that all average out around the 20-minute playing time. Collectively they add up to only 63 minutes which is actually quite short considering many of this compilations can feature up to 4 CDs!

First up is Маленькие трагедии (Little Tragedies) which has been a Russian staple in symphonic prog since 1994. "The Voice of Silence" tackles the expected dramatic developments set out in the symphonic prog universe with lots of time to allow ideas to flourish in its 19 1/2 minute run. This track features a wealth of melodic and compositional ideas that all play out with as much time as they require to feel fully developed before moving on. The track feels perfectly executed with all the required instrumentation demonstrating peak playing skills with special kudos to the excellent keyboard runs. Lyrics are in Russian and the tracks is the most exotic sounding of the three with lots of interesting twists and turns that keep you from guessing what will come next, of course without sacrificing the melodic flow which dominates the entire album.

The following Yesterdays delivers the two part "Suite Pauline" and allows a completely different take on symphonic prog that is a lot mellower than the musical style of Little Tragedies. Infused with a bit of jazz and a love for classic analog equipment, this band certainly does exhibit some classic Yes attributes and sounds the most like a bonafide 70s band due to its staunch dedication to the classic compositional style of the 70s including Steve Howe inspired acoustic classic guitar and Rick Wakeman-like keyboard assaults. This track clocks in at exactly 20 minutes and is brimming with creative infusions. The second fugue part is absolutely entrancing with the ultimate tribute to J.S. Bach in some of the most creative ways possible!

While the first two bands are fairly well known in symphonic prog circles, the third band N.Ø.T is not. This Italian band has never actually released an album in its own right and is one of those bands that has only appeared on the Colossus Projects but as Italians qualifies the most to actually evoke the spirit of the classic spaghetti western themes since Italy was the nation that released the most of these European classics with films like "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" ranking amongst the highest rated movies of all time. While the previous two bands were excellent in constructing phenomenal prog epics, this track takes on a darker approach and actually channels the spirit of what the subject matter is all about and at 23 1/2 minutes long, the lengthiest of the three tracks on board.

While the whole spaghetti western theme doesn't really fly in the context of symphonic prog in the end it doesn't really matter! What does matter is that this is one of the best Colossus releases i've experienced so far. This is what symphonic prog dreams are made of. Lengthy behemoths that meander in logical processions and develop beautiful multi-layered melodic constructs that crescendo in thundering instrumental virtuosity. The infusion of creativity for these bands is off the chart here and often these Colossus Projects feature bands that put their best material on these compilations. I'm woefully not too familiar with any of these bands' music so i can't compare to their regular releases but all i can say is that this is some of the best modern prog that can be heard. Everything is perfectly designed and when it's this fantastic. This is a masterpiece of symphonic prog majesty!