LA TORRE DELL'ALCHIMISTA

Fantastic Italian Symph band that has a bit of the new and old in their sound. Mutti's keyboard work is from the Emerson school and is very dominate yet he doesn't overplay, he allows Ceraolo to take the lead with his flute, yes flute! In fact, there's no lead electric guitar to speak of, mostly acoustic and very mellow at that. Every song except one, ('Il Volo' a ballad) has multiple time changes and are very upbeat and pastoral, imagine if PFM were starting out in 2001. Giardino has a very pleasant voice, not in the operatic style of Banco or the softness of PFM, just unassuming and warm. Two things for me that stand out is the wonderful flute work and the cathiness of most of the tracks. The only misgivings are the bit of 80's type Neo keyboard work in the first half of the opening song 'Delirio' and the meandering towards the end of the final song, 'Acquario'. Otherwise, this is an excellent first album by an Italian Symphonic band in the new millinium. I'm looking forward to their next album....hint, hint!!