BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO

A great hard rocking album from 1974. This Italian band featured dual keyboards along with flute to go with the traditional instruments. The vocals are excellent. The sound quality is not the best, but I wouldn't say it was poor.

"Ansia" has a laid back one minute intro before the tempo picks up and we get a full sound. Vocals 3 minutes in as it settles. It kicks back in again as the contrast continues. "Confessione" is a great rocking track. Strong vocals and aggressive guitar lead the way early. An organ break with vocal melodies 2 1/2 minutes in. Nice. I really like the section starting at 4 minutes as organ, flute and raw guitar dominate. Piano 6 minutes in.

"Una Strana Regina" contrasts the mellow and more uptempo sections well. "Il Nevare" features some outstanding guitar and organ. Great sound 2 1/2 minutes in. "L'Amico Suicida" is dark for 2 minutes then it kicks into gear briefly before calming down again with reserved vocals. Again this song (as they all seem to do) contrasts the mellow and heavy sections frequently. "Confessione" is the instrumental version of the opening song. I like the raw guitar in this one. Some nice piano as well 3 minutes in.

This album has pretty much everything I like about classic RPI including the emotion. I would love to hear a remastered version of this though.

Edit July 6 2010. I just received a SHM-CD Japanese re-issue of this album and the sound is much clearer. I'm a happy guy right now as I listen to this excellent recording. The sound isn't perfect by any means but at least it doesn't sound so muddy.