INFERNO

Fantastic Italian Symphonic album marred by a few parts that smack of cheesiness. I'll start out by saying that if you're into ELPish keyboard prog, then this will be up your alley. Guitars are few, but the amount of different sounding keys will blow your mind. Now about the cheesiness...track four, "Caronte" has some sound affects that remind me of some of those bad sci-fi movies from the 60's. UGH! And to top it off, during the song, which at times isn't half bad, Olivieri will use synths that sound very dated. Sure, at the time it was cutting edge, but now it just sounds awful, it's like I'm waiting for a Theremin-sound to pop up. The next song, "Spacciatore Di Droga" has a trippy hippy sound with some backing vocals straight from the late 60's, kinda out of place to these ears. But things pick up dramatically after those two burps. The music speeds up, the keys are awesome and the melodies have a PFM, Le Orme, Banco feel to them. What sets this band apart from the bands just mentioned is the voice of Jimmy Spitaleri, deep and throaty. When he reaches towards the end of certain lines of words his voice never wavers. He has a bass sound to his voice that matches the very dark nature of the theme of the album, very dramatic and original. If you're a fan of Italian Symph prog, this will definately be one you should find. If you are just starting out, go for the more famous bands I mentioned before. A worthy addition nevertheless. 4 quality stars.