ABBANDONO DEL TEMPO E DELLE FORME

Long live progressive Italy!

When I first heard J'Accuse's demo works on MySpace, this is what I wrote:

Six months have passed since I first heard J'Accuse's demo tracks on MySpace and the band has released their debut album in the mean time. Most, if not all, of my initial impression of the band still holds: a great, experimental blend of styles, that takes a few listens to take hold in you head.

After the intro track Introduzione, the band treats us to Il Tempo Muta Le Forme. The transition from one to the other vaguely reminds me of old Rush work (science fiction period), but it is a far more modern weave work of heavy guitar driven pieces (almost metal like) and quieter parts in which the excellently played bass 'carries the tune'. Close listening reveales hidden gems in this 10 minute piece. The more post rockish (as far as I know that genre) Sul Bordo Dell'Abisso, which also carries over 12 minutes, is less dark, but an equally interesting weave work of movements. The vocals are less screaming, and mixed more into the foreground, making this a track a bit more accessible than it's predecessor. After these two long tracks, two shorter pieces of around 6 minutes follow, showing two different faces of J'Accuse once more. Where L'Angelo is a heavy, restless track that constantly has the two guitars battling for attention, Cercando Un Punto Lontano is slower, less heavy on the guitar. It also takes a bit longer to get into. It should be noted that the battle of guitars on L'Angelo has nothing to do with guitar solo battles we know all too well from our 70's classic rock and 80's hard rock friends - just go and have a listen. The grand finale of the album - the 13 minute piece Ricorre l'Abbandono. The first I ever heard of J'Accuse was the demo of this track, and what I wrote then is the best way I have of describing it - by means of comparison. The opening contains some Porcupine Tree mixed with experimental Kraut, but after a minute or so we are suddenly listening to Jaco Pastorius. Further on, we find sounds that remind us of the heavier Porcupine Tree work, but also heavier guitar work in the vein of Adrian Belew's King Crimson. The jazzy part, as usual, gets to me immediately, but the whole experimental 'epic' surrounding it is the crown on this album.

J'Accuse is a band with potential, and it shows. 4 stars - a good addition to any modern progressive experimental rock collection.

(a small note of thanks to Sasha Colautti for sending me a promotional copy of the album - it didn't influence the rating, because there was no need too)

J'accuse..! is an interesting Italian progressive rock band from Trieste that was formed in 2001 by Sasha Colautti (vocals, lead guitar), Donald Paljuh (vocals, guitar), Michele Scherlich (bass) and Raffaele Tenaglia (drums, percussion). According to the band their many influences range from King Crimson to Mars Volta, from Area to Tool... Nonetheless during the years they have played together they seem to have found their own way and on their debut album "Abbandono del tempo e delle forme" they blend progressive rock, psychedelia and post rock with a very original and mature personal taste building and shaping timeless "musical forms" upon evocative lyrics. The result is definitively good...

The album opens with a spacey intro leading to the long and complex "Il tempo muta le forme" (Time changes forms). Some guitar lines give a touch of "Balkan flavour" to this piece while smothering vocals shape a desperate timeless prayer that breaks through invoking freedom from an inward desert made of evil and banality...

"Sul bordo dell'abisso" (On the edge of the abyss) is another very interesting and long track that seems to depict a nightmare... "Confused souvenirs do not help the eyes / Lost in a sea of thousands fears / It's like you can't breath anymore / It's like you can't feel the ground under your feet... I'm dreaming / I see angels falling like tears across the sky..."... The mood is claustrophobic and heavy but never boring (there are even a few moments that slightly remind me of Goblin's "Profondo Rosso") and the band showcase here a very good musicianship.

"L'angelo" (The Angel) and "Cercando un punto lontano" (Looking for a far point) are shorter than the previous tracks but not less interesting... "L'angelo" was inspired by William Blake's poem "Marriage of heaven and hell" and is a track full of energy with heavy guitars in the forefront, while "Cercando un punto lontano" is calm and "reflexive"... "I'm running faster than the wind... I'm tired to seem like a ray reflected into the void / I'm still here..."

The long and complex "Ricorre l'abbandono" (Abandonment recurs) is frenzy and melancholic, by far my favourite track on the album. It features a good jazz guitar solo by the guest musician Andrea Massaria and it's a perfect finale for a very good work... "I feel inside me the rotten branch to pull it out / Destroy the soul, forget me! / Clean your feelings then bury me"...

On the whole an excellent debut album and a band that deserves credit...

An exciting blend of sounds.and it rocks

I have to wonder if J'accuse..! ever heard of the California alt/punk 80s band called Firehose. When D. Boon, the great leader of the Minutemen perished in a van accident in December of 1985, the remaining members re-emerged the following year as Firehose and proceeded to release several albums of ripsnorting good fun. While others will rightfully mention Porcupine Tree and Crimson while speaking of J'accuse..! I still hear them channeling Firehose in various places throughout this ride whether intentional or not. J'accuse..! has been around for several years and this debut features the talents of Sasha Colautti (vocals, lead guitar), Donald Paljuh (vocals, guitar), Michele Scherlich (bass) and Raffaele Tenaglia (drums, percussion).

The band from Trieste along with Mellow Records have surely delivered an album that will be on many lists of top albums for 2008. Packed with energy it crosses musical styles like space rock and psychedelic with eclectic complexities; and again in my opinion, some of that early alt/punk swagger. Urgency, tension, nail-biting progressions keep building and releasing. There are moments in the 12 minute "Sul Bordo Dell'Abisso" that are the musical equivalent of the final moments of a gazelle's life as it's being torn to shreds by the lions. Punchy and violent in these moments it really doesn't get much better than this.until the arc comes down into a breather and lets you enjoy some serene moments accented by lovely guitar notes or a laid back vocal. What a track! Of course it isn't all like this. The short opening is a Floydian style soundscape that leads into "Il Tempo Muta Le Forme" which starts a bit like 80s Crimson before adding the alt-rock sound on top. The playing on all levels is very attentive and original. From the stellar percussion to the searching guitar parts to the driving, awesome bass lines it is fabulous. The vocals are blue-collar but certainly get the job done with either power or sensitivity depending on what the moment calls for. The album continues the frenetic vein through "L'Angelo" for the most part until "Cencando un Punto Lontano" when it shifts towards a beautiful and mellower spacey rock sound that wouldn't sound out of place on Deadwing. The 13-minute closer "Ricorre L'Abbandono" continues somewhere between PT and Radiohead quadrants while showing the band's uncanny ability to take each possibility somewhere interesting and add the stamps of their own personal sound. (They are not clones of the bands I mention..I note them as references for readers only.) They even throw a jazz guitar solo by Andrea Massaria into this one. I read one complaint about the sound/mix quality of this album and while it sounds pretty thin in my car I had much better luck inside.I can't say it was any big issue for my enjoyment of the music.

This is an album for anyone who thinks there's no original rock and roll left on the landscape. This is not simply a "progressive rock" album for the traditional "prog" crowd but also just a great rock fix.something not to be taken lightly in a time when the media exhorts us to be excited over yet another U2 or Coldplay album.and the public dutifully laps it up. J'accuse..! will not let rock and roll (or prog) go quietly into the night. "Neighbors are to be wakened and fists are to be pumped out car windows" should be the caption on a sticker on this CD. A very meager booklet with this one unfortunately, but no matter. Along with DFA and Il Bacio Della Medusa, J'accuse..! gives Italy yet another serious contender for prog album of 2008. Bravo! 8/10

This is just one of the reasons i love Italian prog!

What makes the world or progressive rock better, is that despite some people say it has dead and some other purists only listen to their 70s favourite acts, it is still alive and with a lot of great bands to discover and listen. As some of you know i am a loyal follower of the Italian prog rock scene, over the years Italia has become my favourite country regarding prog rock, and lately with bands like J' Accuse..!, Il Bacio della Medusa, Akt or Coral Caves among others, i am truly pleased and happy with the music those bands are offering.

J' Accuse is a band that start playing in the early 00's, and after a lot of work they released in this 2008 the album entitled Abbandono del Tempo e Delle Forme, featuring 6 songs, 3 long compositions (over 10 minutes each) and a total time of 53 minutes approx, and what i like of this album, is that it has a very interesting mix of styles, it is not stuck in just one style, so we will listen to very different things from one song to other, which sometimes fails, but in this album that mix is completely succesful.

The album opens with Introduzione, you don't need to learn Italian to know the meaning of that word, so as you can imagine this is a short piece that shows the door to enter to the world of J' Accuse..!, the song has some landscapes and some birds sounds effects that remind me a bit to Echoes by Floyd, it has a constant drumming and then a heavy guitar at the end that leads to the next track... Il Tempo Muta Le Forme continues immediately with the same heavy guitar, and after a few seconds the vocals enters with of course that great Italian language. This is one of the first long compositions, and probably the heaviest of them all despite after some minutes, it has some softer sections . Overall the song has a great power, and a great work by all the members.

Sul Bordo Dell' Abisso is the second long song of the album, and it definitely has a less heavy sound, here is where the mix of sounds in the album will be noticed throughout the minutes. There is a moment where the guitars remind me a bit to Oceansize and some kind of alternative rock, but then in the middle of the song, they return to a heavier style where i can feel a sense of anger that is being released with the music that when it is fully released, the music becomes lighter and with a relaxing feel, let me tell you that the musicianship is excellent, in the last minutes the guitar sound is very post-rock like, so that is another different style into the same song, what a magnific blend.

L' Angelo as i could read was inspired by Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake, it is a shorter track but it returns to the heavy style that we listen in the first song, this is to be honest my less favourite track because i believe their work could' ve been better if they used a slower tempo song.

Cercando un Punto Lontano is another 6-minute song and contrary to the previous track, this is soft as hell, and great as hell too. After the storm, everything is calm...this is how i describe this beautiful and mellow song, it's a song with an spacey mood and that again shows what the band can do, i mean their vast blend of styles that fit perfectly into a single album, after a few minutes the ryhtm is a bit more intense and the vocals enter and make the song even better, a great moment in the album for sure!

And in the end (sadly everything has an end), we have the longest epic entitled Ricorre L' Abbandono and i believe it is their most complex and finest song,with a great mixture of styles again, it has some heavy moments, spacey ones, some darker passages and even a jazzy guitar solo. Within the song we will listen to several time and tempo changes, which is obvious since it is a long track with different passages and movements, it has some nice bass lines and what i like a lot during the whole album is the work of the drummer, always constant and precise with his times, the outro of this song is very emotive, and it does sound like a goodbye where the band is leaving everything they can offer, and putting their maximum effort on it, an excellent song!

What a great album is this, fans of Italian prog must listen to it, and fans of prog rock must know that there are bands like this with something new to offer, and i bet your ears will be happy after you listen to this interesting release. My final grade is 4 stars, highly recommendable to any prog lover.

Enjoy it!