INFERNO

Sometimes the near or total lack of guitars and the dominance of keyboards on a disk is not a concern, but at other times, perhaps because of the uniformity of the sound, this becomes a problem. On Metamorfosi's oft regarded classic "Inferno", unfortunately we are overly attacked by menacing organs and a variety of synthesizers, not to mention somewhat diabolical vocals. Although guitars are credited to Roberto Turbitosi, it is one of those cases of the bass guitarist doing double duty, or not, and I am hard pressed to detect any. The effect is that of a B horror flick without the benefit of the scenes that might put the music in context.

In terms of influences, many cite ELP, but even the style of organ doesn't sound quite like Emerson to me. I hear more Italian contemporaries like Banco and Le Orme, and some forays that sound like Renaissance's early material, which would have preceded this effort by a year or so. As alluded above, much of what is here sounds cheesy to modern ears, and I could not recommend it to one starting out in the field, unless they wanted to hear vintage sounds and/or were taken with church organs as a youth. Nonetheless, taken for what it is, this all works pretty well. In particular, some of the shorter pieces, like "Porta Dell Inferno" and "Carranted" are as concise as you will ever hear, carrying more punch than a lot of suites. "Lussiorosi" seems to capture the easy going sing song nature of early Le Orme ballads. The best full length track is "Sfruttatori", with a gripping melody and suspenseful approach that reminds me of the "New Trolls" circa "Atomic System", and its moogs are pretty impressive too. "Sfruttatori" shows that the band can cook without using electric keyboards, as it features stellar piano work.

While the metamorphosis of modern culture has rendered this dated to say the least, I can think of many productions that should burn in an eternal fire before this one.