GOTTERDAMMERUNG

This was a very good way to make a debut in the world of prog rock music. For their Götterdámmerung album, Italian quintet Asgard brought a refreshing take on the standards of neo-prog: instead of getting their main influence from Genesis and Camel at their respective primers, they went for the darker moods of Trespass-era Genesis with hints to the bucolic side of McDonald- era King Crimson. The similarities to Marillion are superficially defined by the flourishes of the synth solos and Francesco Grosso's Fishian vocal tone, but the band's rocking side was mainly oriented toward melodic hard rock and Gothic rock. Asgard created a particular twist in the European neo-prog that was developing back then in the early 90s. The latin chant 'Antiquum', heavily reminiscent of Romanesque liturgies, kicks off the album with a mysterious solemnity. The final chorale lines give way to the 13+ minute 'Warriors of the Ideal', a very appealing epic piece that finds the band exploring various tempos and motifs while keeping the basic dynamics intact. There is no doubt that the musicians know how to interact in a very solid manner. Later on, 'Mysterion - Sophia' elaborates a consistent grayish atmosphere, built on an elegant use of somber textures in which the dense keyboard layers and the occasional dual acoustic guitars' flourishes act as the main features. This track pretty much anticipates the languid atmospheres that will be noticeable recurrent in their second album Esoteric Poem. Sandwiched between these two tracks is the album's catchiest song: 'Last Flight of the Silver Drakkar'. This song bears a powerful appeal with its moving rhythm structure and flashy melodic lines. The second half of the album, occupied by tracks 5-9, is a continuum that introduces a set of variations to the band's already established statement. Track 5 begins with a brief syncopated rock prelude that opens the door to a reflective piano solo, which in turn lead to track 6, an acoustic guitar solo piece soon joined by the flute. The two 'New Myths' songs (tracks 7 & 8) difer notably: the first one is a pastoral ballad developed from the previous track, while the latter is a mid-tempo rocker (almost martial) that displays a sort of return to track 5's prelude. The city noises that appear during the fade-out set a bridge to the closer, the 11+ minute '...Voices'. This piece combines the epic drive of 'Warriors of the Ideal' with the languid mystery of 'Mysterion - Sophia', and so the final result leads to the biggest demostration of symphonic sophistication in the album. The main flaws of Götterdämmerung are the sound production (the pretty lame organization of the various instruments' sonorities does little justice to the potential power partially evident in the actual playing) and the unfulfilled amalgam of the rhythm section (most of the times it fails to coordinate a pertinently robust foundation for the overall instrumentation). Nonetheless, Asgard's debut album deserves to be labelled as an excellent item of 90s neo-prog. Just like other reviewers before me have noted down, this album reveals the band's peculiar inventiveness despite its specific shortcomings.