PRIMETIME

ASSOLO DI BONGO had to wait eleven years since their formation to release finally their debut.Behind the band were three friends from Udine, Enrico De Stalis (guitars), Marco Cucchiaro (drums) and Erico Rainis (bass).All of them were quite inexperienced musicians,but the band matured musically through the addition of David Accaino on keyboards.While they were performing in local clubs,they had to quit the project due to military obligatons,to return later with new member Elvis Fior behind the drum kit.This quartet recorded their debut ''Primetime'' in 2001.

A nice debut,''Primetime'' lies somewhere between dynamic instrumental rock in the vein of JORDAN RUDESS, BOZZIO LEVIN & STEVENS or DEREK SHERINIAN and Heavy Fusion-Prog with obvious LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT and DEUS EX MACHINA influences.Strong doses of complexity is what characterizes the band,with weird guitar solos covering the heavy keyboard work and obscure synths battling with a tight rhythm section.Keyboardist David Accaino pays a tribute to DREAM THEATER, delivering intricate keyboard passages in the vein of JORDAN RUDESS and DEREK SHERINIAN,while Enrico De Stalis' playing alternates between melody,powerful riffs and furious grooves...and these two are certainly the main men behind the band,as you won't find Erico Rainis or Elvis Fior being on the front for a single minute,despite their evident technical sufficiency.

While ASSOLO DO BONGO won't ever win a prize for creating original music,their debut should easily appeal to fans of adventuruous Heavy Prog with Jazz-Fusion touches.The album is quite good with some carefully composed and arranged music,but deserves a decent number of spins to be fully appreciated and comes recommended by my side to fans of the aforementioned bands (including me).