MACROSCREAM

Four star songs: 5. "Goliath" (10:51)

Three star songs: 1. "Mr.Why" (12:52); 4. "The Flying Giampy" (8:56), and; 6. "Impenetrable Oak Bark" (12:15).

3.5 stars; not for everyone but definitely entertaining and ambitious--and worth checking out for your selves. "Macroscream" is listenable but often too quirky and quick to twist and turn for my attention span. The band has room to grow.

A celebration of being alive. The music on this diverse, modern work from fine Rome-based Macroscream is like walking the park on a sunny day. The diversions and distractions are everywhere and yet completely pleasant. Roller bladers zooming by, birds cruising this way and that, food vendors calling out, and beautiful people smiling.

MacroScream combine defined elements of Crossover, Folk, Fusion, Avant, RPI, (and thus) Eclectic, I can hear bits of Area, Gentle Giant, and Tull, but they are absolutely updated with today's production values and with good melodic sensibilities. I love the constantly changing, cinematic "scenes" playing out and the penchant for unexpected harmonies and strings here and there, such little details really bring a richness. Flutes, Tablas, violins, Mellotron, Hammond, sound effects, piano, and more---so many sounds dropping to support the standard rock instrumentation, which strives for imaginative jamming and even some funkiness. Six fully fleshed out vignettes into a sound world colorful and inventive, old yet new, friendly and yet sometimes dissonant...or at least uninhibited. Having so many ingredients could be a disaster in the hands of a lesser band but here the compositions feel natural and developed.

This is music for which words fail. I urge you to simply put on your headphones and listen. It's an album that can make you feel high and one of my favorites of this year.

Hailing from Greco-Roman myth, the tale of Sisyphus was one that symbolized the futility of man's struggle, presented beautifully through an allegory in which a man was doomed to roll a stone up a hill for eternity, only to have it roll back down as he neared the top. I have heard this story tackled in progressive rock before, with Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright's "Sisyphus" suite on their experimental album "Ummagumma". Macroscream has been a spark in the eye of bassist Alessandro Patierno for several years, but the band has only recently come together to begin their musical journey in earnest. Putting their own musical spin on the tale of "Sisyphus", Macroscream's first album is a success, albeit an uneven one.

If I had tied this myth to music, I imagine my rendition would have been wrought with doom and futile repetition. Although there is little joy in doing the same thing over and over again (with the exception of machines, who seem to love it), Macroscream's tone is quite dainty and cheerful. The band's heavy use of violin helps give their music the atmosphere of a rural festival, often taking the role usually claimed by a lead guitar. Macroscream dabble with a few unconventional sounds- the strings of a piano and trumpet are both given cameos in the closer "To Be White"- but it's the violin that gives Macroscream an identity of their own. Of course, this quirky vibe typical of Italian progressive music is made possible with powerful instrumentation on all fronts. Patierno's bass lines stand out in particular, reminding greatly of Yes' Chris Squire.

The album's title cornerstone is the go-to highlight, and though Macroscream are relatively new on the scene, the composition is thoughtful and well-executed. Their sound is rooted in vintage symphonic prog, although folk leanings help to diversify and brighten up their sound. What may surprise listeners the most is that the lyrics are in English; a artistic choice not too common in an Italian scene that prides itself on its own language. Though this also helps them to craft their own voice, he vocals are decidedly the weakest element here. Though Alessandro is a fine bassist, his voice often feels forced and fragile. I think he could have potential to be a good singer, but it sounds as if he's trying to sound like something he isn't; Peter Gabriel or a strained Tom Petty may be where he's trying to go, but it doesn't work nearly as well as the rest of Macroscream's formula.

As a whole, what Macroscream have done here is quite impressive; with their debut album, they have already fostered a style that should serve them well in the future. In truth, "Sisyphus" stands out above many of the other prog albums that have come out this year, at least as far as its bright songwriting and musiciansihp go. I predict listeners will have a 'love it or hate it' view concerning Patierno's nasal vocal tone, and I would be inclined to place myself in the latter category. It's a shame, really, because the rest of the album is excellent.

The ruthless exercise of authoritarian power, with the gods delivering an Orwellian boot to the face of humanity forever, is not the album's only moral matter. Macroscream's depiction of the tale also takes inspiration from an Albert Camus essay in which Sisyphus personifies the absurd nature of human existence. According to Camus our hero's situation requires passion and revolt, and he concludes that Sisyphus must be happy with his endless affliction: ''The struggle towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.'' The broad expanse of the title-track is entirely congruous with the legend and the first-heard sounds evoke the bleakness of the fly-ridden hellhole into which our hero is thrust. During the opening and closing scenes of the 25-minute epic you almost get a whiff of the sweat from his armpits, and the dust rising from his head mingling with all manner of other airborne excrement.

Macroscream encompass the Camus-connection, that spirit of confrontation, through their complementary interplay between opposites. Alessandro Patierno celebrates the album's English lyrics with an artless accent that's as thick as my mother-in-law's lumpy porridge whereas Gianpaolo Saracino's violin melodies flow as smoothly as ichor. This schism between ugly and beautiful, between voice and violin, is an important characteristic of the album. It's a work that bristles with the spirit of the seventies and you may feel you've dropped straight into the midst of antique-keyboards-heaven, as everything is heavily clothed in Mellotron, Moog and Hammond. You'll have come across these attributes many times of course - in the world of prog they're as common as fleas on a flea-bitten dog - but their special quality here is that they're augmented by a perfect interaction between another pair of opposites, the bosom buddies of bass guitar and violin. It might be a wee bit harsh to say Patierno can't sing for toffee, at least not in English, but his bass-playing is singularly sublime.

''Sisyphus'' is a wonderful incursion into Italian symphonic prog that also rests at times in the world of Mediterranean folk. If the old whets your appetite more than the novel you should soak this up like a milky sponge.