CREAZIONE

Though influences by Balletto di Bronzo are evident (in the lirics too, at least for those who know italian language), this is album is absolutely worth a listen. Elements of progressive metal and reminescences of the italian '70 scene meet in this album, that goes flawlessly from beginning to the end. The vynil version has two bonus tracks, one of which is the beautiful "Era inverno", a cover from the first album by Le Orme.

A PIEDI NUDI's "Creazione" is a pure out and out workout with their characteristic mix of 70's sensitivities and 90's heavy power rock. Although a bit dark and distorted at times, A PIEDI NUDI never lose their melodic touch and offer some fantastic and original music. May be best described as a cross of Il BALLETTO DI BRONZO and KING CRIMSON. Their sound is very 70s like, quite complex (start and stop prog-like) yet very likeable. The music never really holds still for more than a minute or so for those looking for an album that breathes, this is definitely not the one!. The overall sound is comfortably heavy with the guitar and keyboard dominating throughout. The vocals are quite solid (Carlo Bighetti - flute , vocals). The rest of the band are Nicola Gardinale (guitar), Cristian Chinaglia (keyboards), Simone Naghetti (bass) and the big surprise is Enrico Barchetta who plays the French horn. When The horn is played it adds a real interesting vibe into the mix. Overall a great but quite heavy excursion into some new territory.

Like many of its contemporaries, A Piedi Nudi is an obviously overestimated band. The aesthetic and the intention are there but they do lack at reaching the point. The only single bit of originality you'll find here is Enrico Barchetta's french horn interventions wich gives to the all a sparse and quite surreal atmosphere not unlike Semiramis for its weirdness but without having the same strength. And playing loud - like they do - does not mean being persuasive ! As opposed to the many reviews i've already read about this band, i don't find here any trace of that peculiar romanticism and the same exquisite touch that vintage italian prog do have. The same remark applies to "Eclissi", their following effort, while being darker and more focused.

Incredible second album by A PIEDI NUDI: the contributions of the excellent guitarist Nicola Gardinale and very original the presence of the French horn, for a dreamy and very agreeable album: highly recommended!

The second album by 90s Italian heavy prog outfit A PIEDI NUDI, "Creazione" is a manic offering - other reviews have mentioned similarities with KING CRIMSON and while it is true there are moments of a Crimson-esque mad intricacy I would downplay linking the two as much as others seem to. There are a billion movements within each song here and A Piedi Nudi do not often take the time to fully develop any of them.

The first and longest track, 'Memorie', is representative of the album as a whole in that often there appears to be a kind of identity crisis within the band as to what kind of music they are trying to make. Cristian Chinaglia on keyboards has a taste for the mental and almost psychedelic whilst Gardinale's guitar style gets stuck in heavier, more traditional prog metal textures. The song as a result switches between bouts of each and they don't seem to really cohere together very much. As a result the song seems at points disjointed and the flow between its countless movements can be inscrutable. That said, there are some great moments of compromise between the two and it becomes clear by the end that Gardinale is a more versatile player than he can seem.

'Partenza' is more consistent and moves seamlessly from the playful to the serious, with some nice guitar and organ interaction in the process. Another point to note here is the odd inclusion of a dedicated french horn player in the band, which (when he actually plays instead of just sitting twiddling his thumbs!) adds a rich and unusual depth to the madness. Similarly, in the last section of the track the drummer downs his sticks and picks up...a flute! It's just one of a number of pastoral twists that give the album the occasional strange acid-trip-medieval-court edge seen on the cover art.

'Lungo il Sentiero' starts similarly and then takes a giant sidestep into distorted guitars and heavy metal rhythms. The shift between the two is done well but I'm not sure where it was meant to go given that within a minute it's disappeared without trace back into where is was before. The opening minutes of 'Regina Del Torrente' are nice and intricate, with meandering piano balancing out the heaviness nicely and a crimsony guitar moment thrown in too. There's some more fast guitarwork going on in 'Dea Delle Rocce Signore Del Vent' and 'Creazione' which have a similar manic feel to most of the other songs. All the songs here seem to have a stock starting point of fast and heavy which the band do diverge from in a variety of interesting ways (such as the minute's showcase of more paced guitarwork at the end of 'Creazione') but always ultimately return to. 'Nuova Vita' is the maddest track of all, not sure how to describe it, it borders on the bizarre with lazy vocals and frantic discordant synths very uncomfortably juxtaposed.

I haven't mentioned the vocals much, they often seem to be the weakest point of the album, though the vocalist is also the drummer AND flautist so I don't suppose you can expect him to be amazingly specialised- maybe this is just an Italian style choice but he seems to be.. er... 'limited' in his choice of notes(!) He comes into his own more when there's not as much else going on, such as in 'Memorie' after the 8 minute mark and especially in the gentler bonus track, 'La Ballerina', a nice and almost traditional-sounding song, perfectly pleasant with pretty guitar harmonics but completely at odds with the rest of the album.

Overall a mixed album in both quality and design- clever and intricate at points and with moments of great cohesion and occasional clarity, but I think you'd need to be off your meds for a while to think you were appreciating it fully!

I think it is telling that this is the fourth time that I have listened to this album today (admittedly, this also makes it the fourth time I have ever listened to it, so I cannot claim to be an expert on it) and yet what do I have stuck in my head? King crimson. Clearly, then, this is not an instantly attention-capturing soul-gripping album. Possibly, it could be a 'grower', but somehow I doubt it. Do not misinterpret this rather negative introduction to mean that I hated or even disliked this album, in fact there were moments of great beauty within it. This is, then, a slightly above average prog album, from a band with more than enough talent, and a decent amount of potential. The big problem here is that it is simply too chaotic, confused, and jumbled for its own good. At times, one might be tricked into believing that this is an intentional effect; for example, in the opening track 'memorie', perhaps it has been done to evoke a sense of the tangled mess that memories can become. But, even if this is the case, I feel its execution was unsuccessful. For one thing, the jumbled nature of the track detracts from the fact that, at over 12 minutes long, we are in prog epic territory here. Instead, one is given more a sense of multiple 30-second long tracks glued together. And this confusion runs through the album. Even in the style of instrumentation, there is something of a clash, with the guitarist half the time imagining himself to be in a metal band, whilst the keyboardist does his best impression of Keith Emerson. It doesn't fit. But there are moments. This isn't a band without talent, and there are, in virtually every song, moments where they do come together coherently, and manage to pack something of an emotional punch, making this an album not without some merit. The problem, then, is that one is ultimately left feeling that one has listened to a long series of little pieces of music by a collection of talented individuals, rather than an album by a great and cohesive prog band. Given more time playing together, maybe this will improve. Certainly, not a band to dismiss totally when it comes to whether to check out their other releases. As a result, I give this album 2.5/5, rounding up to 3.

Quite a nice change from the first album, I have to say.

A Piedi Nudi is back with their second album. This time with a more controlled RPI themed album. The band still have some volcano like break out of heavy prog and both their sound and music is most definate in the border area between RPI and heavy prog. But the vocals is this time much warmer and lyrical. There are even some pastoral melody bridges here. The sound is much more like the golden 1970s with bands like Biglietto Per Inferno as a good reference.

Unfortunate, this album is let down by the lack of some really great songs. The songs on this album is not bad. But neither is this an exciting album either. A few melody lines are great and that's really it. The sound and the band is better than on their debut album. But the band has yet to deliver any great songs which marks them out as a band worth keeping a close eye on.

Good but not great.

3 stars

This relatively recent Italian band (the nineties) released three albums. This sophomore one is mostly inspired by the glorious seventies and is leaning for a big deal towards KC and ELP at times. This is particularly true during the long opener "Memorie".

This is a thirteen minutes epic dedicated to these great times (even if not very original). Another source of inspiration of the bans is the inevitable "Genesis" during "Partenza" (sweet flute reminds me of the great "Trespass").

Most songs are really a great trip back to the best years of progressive music (which are the seventies of course). Great mellotron and darkness are featured during the short "Dea Delle Rocce, Signore Del Vento". Vocals (as usual for most ISP) are quite delicate and performing.

This song is hesitating between sweet and tender vocal parts and wild instrumental passages. It is quite a great moment indeed!

ELP is again on the menu while "Nueva Vita" reaches your CD player. The whole can of course sound not too much personal (which is true). This album will please any ISP lover but due to the lack of originality, I rate it with three stars. A good album though.

The second offer of this discret and unknown italian band, issued at same Mellow records in 1995 named Creazione is for sure better in every aspect like the previous one. Here the arrangements are more intricate more elaborated with nice alternating heavy prog sections with more mellower ones. Still very heavy and with an experimental aura on some tunes with horns added on few pieces, gives a quite intresting atmosphere overall. I was staying little longer then usual to this band, because on first couple of spins was a real acquiring taste their music, but in the end I begone to appreciated more and more. Some great moments here like on Memorie, Regina Del Torrente or Dea Delle Rocce, Signore Del Vento , heavy prog as must sound this style. Even has some minor flaws here and there, overall this is a great and unnoticed album. Some flute interfear in the heavy sections on Partenza giving a very '70's feel. In fact all the album sounds very 70 a combination of King Crimson with italian beauty alal Balletto di Bronzo.. Some more gentle mellower moments on this release and in combination with heavy prog sections the result is better in every way then on previous work. The voice is cleaner and more confided here. I really like this album after 5-6 listnings, definetly a grower, 3.5 rounded to 4 this time, strange cover art but goes hand in hand with the odd passages in some parts offered. A forgotten little album.