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Progressive rock music has always found a receptive audience
in Italy. When Genesis was first starting out Italy was one
of the first countries to take to the band and the influence
of those early days continues to echo in the music created
decades later; never more so than here. My guess it has a
lot to do with the classical influence in prog. From the beginning
Italy country became a hot bed for progressive bands so it’s
not surprising that the country can still produce some very
adventurous, classically oriented progressive rock bands.
That brings us to the second CD from Il Bacio della Medusa
entitledDiscesa Agl’inferi d’un Giovane Amante. Fans of bands
like Banco, PFM or Delirium, you’ll want to sit up and take
notice here. This Italian sextet create a music that is classic
Italian symphonic progressive rock in the seventies tradition
but updated sound-wise to sound very contemporary.***
The music created on Discesa Agl’inferi d’un Giovane
Amante is essentially one-long concept work consisting of
12 segments running anywhere from 1:48 to 6:58. Each of the
songs incorporates the usual keyboards, guitars and drums
and then places accents into each composition featuring violin,
flute, viola, saxophone etc. They present a nice mix of acoustic
and electric, 12 and 6 string guitars, although it must be
said, one of the things that make the music sound contemporary
is the heavier guitar that is sprinkled throughout. The primary
keyboard tends to be the organ. There is a certain intensity
in the music, especially in the vocal delivery, which I’m
guessing comes from the story line. The band incorporates
a strong classical leaning in their compositional style, adding
to that some very nice ethnic or cultural embellishments,
a hint of acoustic medieval folk here and there to provide
some pleasant dynamics. As well each of the compositions tends
to shifts in time and tempo effortlessly. The whole affair
starts out with the violin as lead instrument which gives
way to loads of flute work. There are times where the music
is quite reminiscent of mid-period Jethro Tull. At the end
of the day this as I say is classic symphonic prog with a
heavy touch.***
Some Italian bands adopt a very romantic sound style
but that’s not the case here. Il Bacio della Medusa projects
a very moody, serious, intense and at times aggressive musical
approach. And even though there are plenty of softer contrasting
moments, the listener is left with the feeling they’ve just
listened to a piece of music of some importance. Trust me
if you’re a fan of the other Italian bands mentioned this
will be right up your alley. It’s great to hear Italian bands
still making music this interesting and challenging. Good
job!
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