STORIE FUORI DAL TEMPO

3.5 stars. CONQUEROR's second album didn't impress me as much as their debut but it's still a really good album. Maybe not as much guitar in this one, but I would say it's proggier with more tempo and mood shifts. This band plays such pleasant and beautiful music, and those female Italian vocals are the icing on the cake.

"Ouverture" begins with piano that makes me think of "Fifth Of Firth" for the first 10 seconds, then a full sound comes in. The flute and guitar sound so good. Some heaviness before 2 minutes with organ. I like when it settles after 3 minutes and then starts to build again. "Mosaico Di Colori" opens with acoustic guitar as drums and synths join in then vocals. Nice sound. Flute before 2 minutes with some prominant bass to follow. Flute / bass / drums before 4 minutes provide some great listening. The organ that follows is fantastic. "No Photo" is led by flute and organ early, guitar a minute in. Piano 2 minutes in. Acoustic guitar followed by vocals for the first time in the song before 4 minutes. Deep bass lines and then some sax before 6 minutes.

"Pagine Di Poesie" opens with drums and guitar before synths and flute come in. Excellent sound. Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes. It's okay. "Klaus" is my favourite and it opens with a piano / drum melody. Guitar, flute and bass take over. The contrast continues for a while then we get a calm 2 minutes in. It builds to a nice heavy sound. I like the SINKADUS-like flute after 3 minutes as drums pound. Piano after 4 minutes then vocals as flute continues. "Morgana" is CONQUEROR's first epic tune at over 31 minutes. I'm not going to take you through this one because the tempo and mood changes so often. The thing is though that it flows beautifully, no sudden changes at all. This song has it all, it seems to incorporate all that has gone on before.

Italian music fans should check this band out. I do feel that each release is not as good as the one before though.