IMAGIN'ARIA

This is the fourth album by Italian band Imagin'aria, but is the first that I have heard from them. According to what I have been reading on the web the previous releases have been symphonic hard rock with some prog influences ? but if that is the case then the band have totally turned that around as while there are some undoubted hard rock influences, especially with the guitars, this is now much more of a prog album that has been influenced by PFM, Eloy and Floyd. Apparently this is a concept album, based on a science fiction story about constellations, planets and the close relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. But, it is all sung in Italian so I don't really have any idea as to what is going on. The start of the booklet contains two pages of text so I presume that this gives the background to what is going on, but as that too is in Italian I am none the wiser.

Musically this is an album that covers a lot of bases, with gentle almost folky music giving way something that is more powerful. The vocals are very good, and it is strange to note that this is a standard rock line-up with singer, two guitarists, bass and drums with no keyboard player in sight (the sounds that are used are apparently triggered by the guitars). The more I have played this album the more I have got out of it, and musically it is very good indeed. If this had been sung in English then I am sure that we would be reading a lot more about it as this is a very positive work indeed. If you enjoy your prog European and don't mind the language difficulty then this is worth seeking out. www.maracash.com

Five young Italian musicians gathered in 1989 to form the Heavy/Thrash Metal act Physeter, led by Daniele Perico (vocals), Luca Milan (guitars) and Andrea Peasso (bass).After the 91' demo ''"Prince of silence Tells" the style of Physeter became more refined, as they explored the Classic Italian Prog sound and recruited Andrea's brother Ivan on guitars, and the second demo from 94' "Unico" presented this new style, entirely sung in Italian.By mid-90's with the addition of drummer Fabio Biffignandi the band changed the name to Imagin'aria heading for their first full-legth album, eventually released in 1997 on Lizard under the title ''In un altro quando'' with a few guest on keyboards, violin and female vocals.

Imagin'aria's approach is strongly grounded in the Italian Prog tradition and presents a band with an excellent vocalist and a very dynamic sound, not very complex, but definitely demanding and rich.The overall sound is driven by the dual guitar attack of Luca Milan and Ivan Peasso, with a few piano and keyboard themes supporting, and the band succesfully switches from Hard/Prog Rock attacks to more elaborate arrangements and soaring melodies, not unlike IL BACIO DELLA MEDUSA.As the music is heavily based on guitars, the final result depends a lot on the ideas of Peasso and Milan, who eventually come up with some excellent dramatic riffs, decent solos and powerful grooves.Piano interludes and orchestral keyboards are sparse and add the album a slightly symphonic flavor.There are also some fine acoustic breaks to be found between the heavier moments with some sort of Medieval/Folk atmosphere, nicely connected with the rest of the music.Last but not least comes the band's driving force, singer Daniele Perico, who's theatrical and dynamic voice is among the best to be heard within the scene.

Modern guitar-driven Italian Prog with occasional Hard Rock shifts, well-performed and pretty energetic.Warmly recommended.

Cool Sci-Fi concept album for 90s/00s Neo-prog fans

Imagin'aria (from Alessandria) are another quality modern progressive band that is hard to pin one label on. You have some very talented musicians here who are injecting symphonic progressive rock with the influence of prog-metal, electronica, pop music, and neo-progressive. The band reminds me a bit of The Gourishankar in their chameleon ways, but whereas that band was simply musically out-of-control to the point of annoyance, Imagin'Aria does a better job of satisfying.putting cohesion above flash. It's a tremendously mysterious and beguiling little album that will get under your skin if you let it. Apparently this is a conceptual album with a Sci-Fi storyline about and end-of-world scenario and what takes place.

I'm not even sure how to describe the songs of "Progretto" other than to say variety is the spice of life. In the three-part opener "S.O. Seji" alone, they will deliver a Wall-era Floydian guitar atmosphere with female wordless operatic vocals over electronica, pulsing rhythms and even acoustic guitars. Most vocals on the album however are traditionally sung male vocals of very good quality. "Tela Bianca" crosses right over into pop music with sing along melodies and twangy clean electric guitars. They will go instrumental mode for "Il nostro delore" balancing lighter piano sections with some very heavy guitar and bass. "Il volo di Ledeo" toys with prog-metal blast drumming and heavy chugs. One of the album's highlights is surely the longest song "Fusione" at just over 8 minutes, which moves a turbulent and heavy first half into a more contemplative second half with melancholic lead guitar notes accenting the fine acoustic guitar work, and emotional, pleasant vocals. Several tracks are also quite fond of the blips and blurps sounds and rave beats you might associate with Bjork, yet there is usually more going on above and below the beats, sometimes spacey synths, flute, or strings. The compositional quality of the album is very good and the performances even better. These guys know what they're doing-I've a feeling we've not heard the last of Imagin'Aria!

I actually believe the fans who would most appreciate Imagin'Aria are the Neo-prog fans. This album, with its melodic but harder-edged modern prog sound should appeal to fans of many recent Neo-prog bands (as opposed to Genesis style 80s neo like Script), and reminds me more of high quality Neo than it does Italian Symphonic or Heavy Prog. To me there are only passing references to '70s Italian prog though the band cites it as an influence...they also cite funk, electronic, and folk. In any case this is an album with much appeal. The booklet is quite modest but features lyrics and some nice drawings. 7/10

Bulletin Prints Official TELA BIANCA , the new song of the Imagin'Aria for the Ladymusicrecords The new song will be included in the Cd by the title "Progetto T.I.A". ( fourth official Cd of band ) in exit for the Ladymusicrecords in February 2005. The new CD will be a Concept to science fiction based on an unpublished tale written for the opportunity by the guitarist of the Imagin' Aria Gianluca Milan . TELA BIANCA who among the others has seen the precious Matteo Gaggioli cooperation phase to LOGIC study of Pistoia (and Mastering to the Nautilus of Milan) it will be in rotation on the principal national circuits radio . TELA BIANCA unloading it free of charge will be possible at days from the site of band (www.imagin-aria.com) and from the site of the (Www.ladymusicrecords.it) label. Lorenzo Margiotta responsible for the NMC (Live Noprofit agency) will cure the Booking of band understood the part dedicated to the Live (for Info [email protected] )

Like every true Prog-head, I am really happy that the contemporary Progressive Rock movement is not only alive, but is so rich and diverse that many of the bands that created and furthered the genre would be proud. (Yeah, regardless of how trite this expression sounds.) Well, having started with such a pompous prelude, I've actually laid my cards on the table and made it clear to you that the review will be very positive. However, do you know dear readers that it's much harder to write so-called rave reviews than critical ones? I'm honest, and I believe most reviewers would agree with me without any hesitation. So, here is another brilliant album, and of course, a distinct originality is among the principal virtues of it. Daniele Perico is an amazing chameleon singer. But while he sings in Italian, and the band's music is hardly about something unusual (if not to take into account its almost exclusively dramatic character), it isn't linked with their native Progressive and any other school of the genre alike. "A Genius is a friend of Paradoxes". This way, mentally quoting the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, I have stopped to search for the roots of Imagin' Aria's music after hearing the album. I think I can declare that this is just an original contemporary Progressive at its best. There are no pauses between the tracks here. Furthermore, it is often hard to determine the end of one composition and the beginning of another. So "Esperia" is most likely a full-fledged concept album. (All-instrumental concept albums are only semi- full-fledged:-). Most of the songs here aren't long, but the vocal and instrumental arrangements on each of them are so much diverse and changeable that you'll have very little time to dwell on any one theme. The predominant stylistics is not Symphonic Prog-Metal, typical for Dream Theater and the likes, nor Symphonic Art-Rock with pronounced elements of Prog-Metal, like in the case of Magellan, etc. This is a very well balanced combination of both of these genres when the heaviness of Prog-Metal perceives like being originally inseparable from the lushness and complexity of Art-Rock. All of this is typical for most of the tracks on the album, one of which (3) is an instrumental piece. The last song (12) is the only track which features violin and accordion and is notable for lushly orchestrated arrangements, while generally, the album is made up of the parts of traditional Rock instruments, including Hammond, and those of piano, flute, and classical guitar. Along with its intro (4), Schegge di Poesia (5) represents a pure Symphonic Art-Rock with a strong medieval folk music feel throughout. Canto di Adagio is the only song among the shortest tracks and, as well as two instrumentals (4 & 11), is based on passages of classical guitar. The ninth consists of passages of a string ensemble going along with narration and, like any of the other short pieces here, is just part of the song that follows it.

Conclusion. Imagin' Aria's "Esperia" is an all around great work. One of the year's masterworks, this is a certain candidate for my Top-20-2004. The lovers of classic Symphonic Progressive will find everything here that makes music the integral part of their life.

VM

Disappointment. Some positive reviews say that IMAGIN'ARIA plays a refined progressive music, but I just listened to a hard rock band with some prog hints.

"La Tempesta" is an energetic but uninspired stuff. Only a few and very short nice moments (BTW, the acoustic guitar playing Beethoven's Tempest Sonata during some seconds is the best) and long hard -and even noisy- soundscapes along the album.

IMHO, annoying and far from most of Italian contemporary bands.