CAMPO DI MARTE

Lately I've been listening Italian bands from the 70's I didn't had the chance of listening in their heyday (Living in Perú it was virtually impossible, being that almost no Prog album was ever released), and now it's the turn for "CAMPO DI MARTE"

I thank the providence that I heard them a few weeks ago and not in the 70's, because it's a very complex band with elements of different genres and bands that I would not had appreciated then, being that all I was looking for in the great decade was bands that sounded like GENESIS, ELP and YES instead of really challenging music as the one performed by "CAMPO DI MARTE" in their self titled album.

The album starts with "Primo Tempo" and it's Crimsonian introduction,where the dissonant percussion and guitar collision with the more traditional keyboards, creating some sort of Hard Prog with some pastoral elements. Simply brilliant.

"Secondo Tempo" starts more as you could expect from a 70's Italian band, soft and acoustic with a beautiful melody in which the musicians of this part of the world are so expert, the oneiric flute creates a dense but melodic atmosphere and it's only interrupted by the violent percussion that creates a wonderful contrast between the soft and the aggressive side of the band. As the track advances, they mix some sort of Latin Jazz with GENESIS overtones enhanced by the Mellotron, everything flows gently until the wondrous finale with distorted guitars.

"Terzo Tempo" is a box of surprises, the opening is confusing and almost cacophonic with Enrico Rossa torturing the guitar almost in a Metal vein, but after a few seconds the traditional piano and vocals change radically the mood of the track towards some sort of melancholic power ballad, but again Alfredo Barducci takes a detour with the piano towards a melodic but powerful Symphonic song. The changes keep coming every few seconds and keep the interest of the listener...This is how Progressive Rock has to sound.

"Quarto Tempo" seems like two different tracks, the first half consists of a breathtaking Baroque organ solo in the vein of Johan Sebastian Bach that really gives me goose bumps, but suddenly morphs into a breathtaking Symphonic Rock song where the guys give everything they have and if it wasn't enough, the acoustic and surprising finale is the cherry on the top of the pie.

"Quinto Tempo" starts where the previous song ended with an acoustic guitar solo soon followed by a pastoral flute. Even when this song is one of the most predictable, the subtle unexpected details always capture me, specially the nice choral.

"Sesto Tempo" is one of the most eccentric songs I ever heard, seems like the band mixed all the styles and moods they were able to create and joined it with the sole purpose of surprising the unprepared listener, but the result is fantastic, every section collisions with the previous, but they manage to make it sound natural, even when the French Horn enhancing a Medieval passage is placed just before an almost Avant section. Delightful from start to end.

The album ends with "Settimo Tempo" is so contradictory and complex that I won't even try to describe, because plain words may destroy the beauty.

Again a superb Italian band that sadly released a single album when they had much more to give....I can't rate this masterpiece with less than 5 stars.