SUN SUPREME

Formed by Maurizio Salvi, Nico Di Palo, Gianni Belleno and Frank Laugelli from the recently disbanded (but to be reincarnated) New Trolls. After their first albusm the drummer Belleno leaves and Ric Parnell from Atomic Rooster joins. Together they release this beautiful album that is Sun Supreme.

They lour you in with some relaxing nice acoustic guitar that goes on for a while and you start wondering when the real thing will will start. Then it hits you. The full bands kick in with ELP like keyboards, vocal harmonies and heavy guitars and bass in the background, singing together a wonderful tune. What wonderful mellotrons, nice guitar work and good vocal performance. The first four songs are actually one long track as are the last 3 songs. These were also the side A and B of the vinyl release. What I like about this album (and these four connected tracks especially) is that you get classic symphonic prog, classic rock, nice rock ballad tunes and some hard rock all in one and in the first 4 tracks it is going without interruptions in a joyful display of good music. A reviewer said he hears Led Zeppelin here and there is some merit to this claim. First, the vocals have some resemblance to those of Plant. Second, there are some guitar repetitive moments that can remind one of some Led Zep guitar riffs. The second track, meaning Divinity, starts in a similar fashion as the first. Light nice tune that suddenly becomes a burst of energy of guitars and keyboards. This one has more experimentalization in it. Divinity part 2 for instance has some weird electronics sounds and a drum solo. Divinity part 3 starts off with an ambient like atmosphere that turns into a nice farewell from this album with the vocals singing the chorus. This track has a free spirit and looser structure and it allows the musicians to show their full capabilities and I think you hear that they know their craft very well.

Like Dick Heath noted, I too believe it is a tad short and it could have been even better with more tracks on it. Nevertheless, it is a splendid album and an excellent addition to you progressive rock music collection.