LEMURES

Italy's Dark Lord of the Synth Gianni Leone of "YS" fame returns with a newly refitted-for-battle version of the band he made famous with that landmark 1972 album. With the assistance of Ivano Salvatori on bass and Riccardo Spili on drums, BALLETTO di BRONZO is now a trio, and O what a Trio! Armed with State of the Art technology, with roots in the Golden Age of Italian progressive rock, a powerful yet subtle rhythm section, a dose of Zappa here and handful of Hendrix there, all of it mixed and molded according to Leone's playfully demonic muse, the Ballet of Bronze present us with their new album "Lemures", a dark, bold, and gleaming sonic vision both frightening and beautiful to behold!

The sound design on this album is Outrageous! Sonic changes fly out of left field and wrap around your head then leave before you know what hit you; notes and melodies appear in distinctly odd spaces of their own apart from the rest of the music, and the sounds themselves are often hybrids blending dynamically with others; a howl will briefly become a flourish of harp strings on its way back to more howling. The over-all effect gives the sonic palette a tactile quality, as if it were living writhing skin! Yet at no time does this hyper-technological sheen become a stand-in for soullessness, or detract from the emotional impact of the music.

INCUBO e SUCCUBO transports us to another planet in an unknown universe, the soundscape stark yet intriguing before a portal opens to unleash all of your dreams and nightmares; an introduction to what lies ahead.

OCEANI SCONOSCIUTI introduces a heavy industrial groove that leads into horror territory bringing to mind Goblin. The cornucopia of synth sounds on this album is a feast for the ears!

L'EMOFAGO brings a more Pop/Rock energy to the proceedings, especially with the swagger of Leone's vocal delivery, and if there were to be a single from the album this would surely be it. This song reminds me of UK and ELP (bands that were likewise good at combining prog with pop) and it is here the music becomes more obviously progressive with sudden unpredictable stop-start pauses in the rhythms.

NAPOLI SOTTERRANEA is one of the wilder songs opening with free-form noise like Area at their most experimental. There is a love of sound for it's own sake that perhaps conjures the mad chaotic energy of Napoli itself? Leone wails out over an avant-noize psychoscape with non-verbal operatic runs synchronized to tricky bombastic rhythms, like Magma meets Zappa, before launching into a wild space jam freak out covered in 9 different flavors of distortion!

L'OMBRA DEGLI DEI: After a forbidding dirge-like opening the Zappa influence comes thru strong with a "statistically dense" sinister riff staggering along with awkward grace like a drunken ballerina as the drums go crazy playing polyrhythmic circles around and through it before launching into a TOOL-like tribal drum pattern to anchor the epic transition to a new theme that features a harsh guttural vocal grunting that, for me, exemplifies the combination of technological Futurism with a primal, brutal undercurrent that is embodied by the entire album. LABYRINTHUS: A mysterious and otherworldly melody builds hypnotically and leads into the labyrinthine towers and canyons of an advanced alien civilization. Zuhl-like with a magisterial pace that takes its time yet is inexorable, I find the combination of Dark and Light, Fear and Beauty of this piece to be absolutely mind altering.

CERTEZZA FRAGILI: I responded emotionally to this tune from the first note, it's melancholic longing hooking me in the heart and pulling me thru Leone's plaintive vocals with a growing urgency upwards thru swirling chaos into a quickened and reframed form of the melodic progression, now revealed anew exploding outwards in an arboration of sound driven by a quirky drum and bass syncopation that reminds me of Gentle Giant in it's beautiful complexity that nevertheless rocks. One of my favorites.

DELIQIO VIOLA: As the music grows in complexity so too Leone's vocals grow wilder and more dramatic, building an electric storm over a churning sea out of the depths of which arises one Badass Monster Riff to trod a Titan upon the land crushing all beneath it; truly an exciting moment and Grand Finale of the album!

IL VENTO POI: Out of the howling vortex we find ourselves planted on?the beach! A sunny vibe prevails with a poppy, spacey groove that remains delightfully weird with a crazy warbling vocal effect that becomes the hook of the song (you wait for it to come around again) maintaining it's space odyssey vibe to the very last fading electronic howl and gurgle, with a wild synth "guitar" solo to aid you on your journey back home.

"Lemurs" is a modern Prog classic that deserves to be heard by everyone. Dont take my word for it, listen for yourself!