PARADISO

The do it again, oh god, they do it again!!! After 31 years the do it again. Metamorsi's new album is a mastermpiece of moder prog rock, of course with feeling of the 70s Davide Spitaleri sings incredible well in, specially, Cielo di Venere (Notturno su Venere) and Cielo di Marte.

An excellent prog rock album. Listen to it, you don't regret it!

Time goes on, but not for everybody. Davide "Jimmy" Spitaleri, the METAMORFOSI's singer and one of the best voices (perhaps the best) in the Italian prog is at the top after 32 years!

Basically, "Paradiso" is a sort of second part from "Inferno", one of the great masterpieces in the seventies. Of course, sound is modern but not plastic at all and the album, even when is magnificent, isn't top notch stuff. Nevertheless, there are lots of beautiful melodies and really inspired moments.

Structure between "Inferno" and "Paradise" is similar: several themes (14 in this case) that can be listened like just one. Main instruments are piano and synths, with nice classic guitar and drums participation, but the cherry in the dish is -no doubts- the sensibility and expression ways from Spitaleri's singing.

"Paradiso" isn't a masterpiece as "Inferno", but -I'm sure- it will remain through the years as an excellent album and one of the best in 2004.

It's hard to believe that after 31 years these guys sound as good (maybe better due to production ?) as they did on "Inferno." Jimmy's still got a voice to die for and Enrico is still a master of the keyboards. If only all come-backs were this marvelous!Four and a half stars!!!!!

Thirty years after their masterpiece "Inferno" METAMORFOSI is releasing its follow-up which is meant as a second part of a trilogy based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Suitable to its title the music here is much more mellow and lighter than on the precedor. As well some changing of the line-up happened , Jimmy Spitaleri and Enrico Olivieri return with a new rhythm section comprised of Fabio Moresco on drums and Leonardo Gallucci on bass and acoustic guitars.

Though Spilateri is a fantastic singer, I have to say that at times his vocals ressemble here too much to a passionate Italo-Pop singer. Especially songs as "Salita a Venere", "Cielo di Venere" and "Il Sole" have more a sob stuff character and had put me rather off in the beginning from listening through the whole CD until the more rewarding stuff is presented as "Empireo" or "Cielo di Marte" for example. "Cielo di Mercurio" is a quite good track as well.

As a summary I'd like to say that "Paradiso" is for a re-union album after all these years not a really bad one but of course cannot be compared to "Inferno" in any way. Although from the point of musicianship there is still quite a high quality present, but maybe due to the topic some compositions just sound too much bombastic or mellow,especially in the vocal parts. Fairly good, but not essential!

Two members survived these thirty-two years between "Infierno" and "Paradiso". Davide and Enrico. The core of the band.

I have to agree that Davide sounds extremely passionate on this album. Better than on their previous works to be honest. This album also sounds more "Italian", less jazzy which is of course fine with me.

Some delicate and classical piano, suddenly replaced with moog ("Cielo Di Mercurio") makes this album quite varied. Of course, these moog sounds reminds ELP instantaneously but they are always pleasant, aren't they?

And it goes on with this interchange. Just a pity that there aren't more vocals because Davide was really in a good shape while recording this album. The only minus point would probably be that several songs are just average, placed there to allow this album to be sufficiently long enough. Such as "Cielo Di Venere" for instance.

I was not really expecting anything great from the band after all those years, but unlike some other great old Italian bands ("Locanda Delle Fate" amongst others), they did manage to come back with a good album. Not a great one (but none of them were masterpieces IMHHO).

"Paradiso" is a good album with emotional, bombastic passages ("Cielo Di Marte" which is one of my favourite song). Other tracks are less interesting like "Cielo Di Saturno" which sounds more as a part of "The Phantom Of The Opera" than Italian prog music.

The highlight of this work is the closing track. La Chiesa Delle Stelle holds everything that an Italian prog fan should look to: passion, harmony, great keys, some organ church (why not) and last but not least: Passion (with a capital P). A great way to close this work.

Three stars.

I'm a big fan of METAMORFOSI's "Inferno" album from 1973, but this comeback record some 30 years later pales in comparison. Piano and vocals lead the way here but something is missing. In fact a 3 star rating seems a little high for me but in the end that's my rating. This is a concept album with a lot of short tracks.

"Introduzione" is spacey to open before piano then spoken Italian words arrive. It's fuller before 2 minutes. "Sfera Di Fuoco" features theatrical vocals and bombast. "Cielo Della Luna" opens with solo piano as reserved vocals come in. They turn passionate as a fuller sound arrives. Contrasts continue. "Salita A Mercurio" offers up more theatrical vocals with piano and drums standing out. "Cielo Di Mercurio" is piano led before it kicks in around a minute with synths leading.

"Salita A Venere" has some very impressive piano melodies throughout. "Cielo Di Venere" opens with acoustic guitar as fragile vocals join in. "Il Sole" is an orchestral sounding instrumental. "Cielo Di Marte" features drums and a full sound before it settles late. "Cielo Di Giove" opens with synths before a full sound arrives as the tempo picks up. It settles with piano 1 1/2 minutes in and fragile vocals join in. Some nice bass 3 1/2 minutes in then it kicks back in with synths. "Cielo Di Saturno" has some passionate vocals. "Stelle Fise" features drums and synths and some prominant bass. "Empireo" is uptempo early with bass, piano and drums leading. It settles a minute in as the tempo continues to change. Synths and guitar later. "La Chiesa Delle Stelle" is the best track in my opinion as we finally get some emotion 3 minutes in. Organ ends it.

Barely 3 stars.

The sequel of ''Inferno'', this time entitled ''Paradiso'', was already prepared by Metamorfosi, but due to unknown reasons the band never entered the studio to record it and split around mid-70's.Davide Spitaleri released two solo albums at the end of the decade, the first one under the name of Thor.During the 90's Spitaleri and keyboardist Enrico Olivieri gave birth to a second round of Metamorfosi's history and after some concerts the long-awaited ''Paradiso'' was finally recorded around 2000 with new members Leonardo Gallucci (bass, classical guitar) and Fabio Moresco (drums).The album saw the light in 2004 on Progressivamente.

A pleasant comeback with an updated but still deeply symphonic sound, strong operatic elements and Spilateri's voice in excellent shape rewards the listener with a surprising good album by a band that sounds as much inspired as during their 70's stint.As with ''Inferno'', the third work of Metamorfosi is divided in short pieces, all tightly connected to each other to form a long, epic work of Symphonic Rock, based on Dante's writings.The sound is heavily driven by Olivieri's monumental work on keyboards with epic synthesizer flights and plenty of romantic piano preludes, while there are also lots of choir parts in the album to complete pieces of pure Classical Music influence in a rock vein.As a result, ''Paradiso'' passes from delicate and emotional moments (some with an acoustic vibe) to cinematic, highly symphonic textures with a decent space for instrumental themes and even some darker parts in the process.Spilateri's voice is flawless: very emotional, very clean and extremely theatrical.Maybe the band should have used the analog keyboards a bit more, but still it is should be mentioned that the album flows in an amazing coherence with hardly any ''dead'' minutes.

Metamorfosi continued their occasional live appearances every now and then and one of them, following the release of ''Paradiso'', marked the first live album of the group, captured on December 24th, 2004 at Chiesa di S. Galla in Rome, but only released in 2011 on Suono Records under the dreamy title ''La Chiesa delle stelle''.

One of the consistent groups of Italian Prog with a deep Classical-inclined style next to compatriots Le Orme and Latte E Mielle.A welcome return full of operatic, warm and atmospheric moments of elegance.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.