LORD CROMWELL (PLAYS SUITE FOR SEVEN VICES)

Whereas "Intrespezione" opened in a stark and challenging way, "Lord Cromwell..." chooses to unfold in a serenely, stately manner with a neo-classical arrangement for piano, flute and... well, timpani. This should send up a warning flag but happily the song morphs into rock and cycles through several different textures before its melodic and pleasing conclusion in a fairly EL&P or Le Orme-like way. No "sophomore album" problem for Opus Avantra, then.

This one appears to be a concept album as the song titles gel with that of the record. I'm not versed in italian so I can't tell you how lyrically deep this delves but I can confirm that each of the tracks synonymous with one of the sins sounds rather like its sinner, ie, "Avarice" sounds like the soundtrack for the life of a mercenary man with a great desire for power and "Envy" is a challenging, staggering piece that cleverly expresses inner bitterness and rage.

This one is twice as rocky as their previous endeavour and a better starting point for the more orthodox prog-heads among us.