RINGS OF EARTHLY... LIVE

- First review of this release - In my opinion, Italy was one of the best prog countries in the seventies, and it's a marvelous prog country today. The variety of styles is wide, and especially for those preferring the golden era of [symphonic] prog there are lots of superb bands who carry that spirit in their music. ANCIENT VEIL is a new acquaintance for me, and I was immediately charmed. A little background information: the key members Alessandro Serri (vocals, guitars, flute) and Edmondo Romano (wind instruments) departed from ERIS PLUVIA after the band's debut album Rings of Earthly Light (1991). The self-titled debut of Ancient Veil was released in 1995, but the next album I Am Changing came no sooner than in 2017; in the interim the members had other projects. This live album circulates the aforementioned Eris Pluvia title, thus indicating that the 73-minute set - recorded in Teatro della Tosse in Genoa, May and November 2017 - contains music from that album as well. All music is composed by Serri and Romano.

8-minute 'Ancient Veil' is a gorgeous opener. It has changing time signatures and fine soaring melodies, with recorder bringing some folk flavour. It's instrumental except for the final part. 'Dancing Around My Slow Time' is more vocal-oriented. The group's "light chamber-prog" sound is pleasant and nuanced. 'The Dance of the Elves' is a short folk-prog instrumental placing recorder in a lead role. If that one brings Jethro Tull in mind, 'Creature of the Lake' reminds me of the ethereal, Old Music flavoured side of Gentle Giant, perhaps also because the vocals in it sound a bit like Kerry Minnear's. Tracks 1-6 originate from the Ancient veil debut album.

The comes the 17½-minute title suite of the Eris Pluvia debut. Here the symphonic tendencies of the band are blooming. The dynamic and suitably complex - and yet harmonic - music is partly instrumental, partly sung, and it always flows in an elegant manner. Edmondo Romano keeps changing between soprano sax, clarinet and recorders. The suite features some female vocals too. I wish I had come across this wonderful music already in the early 90's! Two shorter songs follow from that same album, and the rest, ie. tracks 10-12, originate from the recent I Am Changing.

All music here is extremely pleasant for the listener enjoying acoustically oriented "chamber prog" with lots of reeds (the softer ones) and jazzy, folky or art music flavours. The sonic quality is excellent too. One can imagine being there in the theatre, close to the band. I understand that for many progheads this set - I guess we can talk about the style of the band(s) in general - may appear slightly too safe, pretty and without many huge highlights, as it's so good all the way. But I'm sure this will be among my favourite recent discoveries.