LUXADE

La Maschera di Cera may be only one of many projects by Finisterre bassist Fabio Zuffanti, but it should be the first port of call for anyone seeking to find new music in the classic Italian prog style of the 1970s. Zuffanti and his colleagues assemble a grand collection of vintage gear (just look at Agostino Macor's range of keyboards, synths, and other electronic toys - there's even a theremin!) and put out an album which, if they'd told me it had been left in a vault for 30 years, I could easily be fooled.

Which isn't to say that this is a pure nostalgia trip, mind - LuxAde interweaves dark majesty approached only, perhaps, by the most thunderous moments of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso with strands of great beauty in a mixture which is the band's own. Very much worth it for all Rock Progressivo Italiano fans.