ALPHATAURUS

The album starts with Pista 6, and this was the one that immediately sold me on the album. The song opens with some keyboard ambience and echoing guitar parts, while Franco Giaffreda provides some great vocals accompanied by some background percussion. Before in the distance, a bass line begins to play, and the rest of the band joins in a little after that. They start with a more jazz influenced section, from what I heard, before delving into the RPI sound. Some of the sections of this song sound more like you're in an orchestra pit rather than a rock song. You can also hear music similar to Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in some parts. Overall, a fantastic start to the album and my personal favorite song on the album. Next on the album is another great song titled Viaggio Nel Nulla. It begins with a nice keyboard opening before going into a passage that has more of a rocking sound, with something close to AOR, but not exactly. I also really just love the keyboard parts in this song; they have such an emotion behind them and add a lot more to the song in general. Other than that, not a whole lot to say here. It's just a nice, classic prog sounding song. The next song on the album, Flashback (Apocalisse), takes a much different approach. It kicks off with a futuristic sounding section on the keyboards once again, before the band plays a much more gloomy and complex piece of music. I would argue that this song is the most progressive on the album, with rhythm changes, complete stops, and overall uncommon structures. The song also sounds very serious, with a high level of musicianship made obvious within it. The song has dynamics between heavy prog and softer prog in multiple areas and is all throughout incredible.

  The second half of the album starts with the ten minute long suite, Wormhole. It begins with a generally happy sounding synth part, and the rest of the band turns that happiness into an almost dreadful sounding part. The progressive force these guys had all those years back in 1973 is obvious here, with an extreme technical performance in most of the song. When the band finishes though, they play a gorgeous acoustic section and come close to a crescendo, but immediately stop and return to the beginning playing. The song ends with a refrain of the synths at the beginning. This is probably my second favorite song on the album, being strong in terms of prog and beauty. Similar to Viaggio Nel Nulla, the next song, Meta e Meta, is more inspired through classic rock and AOR. This song feels a lot more upbeat, with normal music compared to other progressive rock music, and more classic rock edge can still resonate with me, but I would consider this to be the weakest song on the album. So, there's not much I can add to the song right now; it's just a great song. The last song on the album has got to be one of the most fitting closings to an album. It's titled E=mc2 and sounds almost entirely orchestral. The vocals are absolutely beautiful, and they are accompanied by an acoustic guitar in the background for most of the song. The way they reach these high points and how the band creates this almost tearjerking experience through this song blows my mind, and the fact that even though only two original members are here, they're all old and yet they manage to pull off. This was definitely the best option they could've taken to end off this fantastic album.  

In conclusion, 2084: Viaggio Nel Nulla is my personal favorite album of 2024. Yes, the band strives away from a normal progressive style of complicated structures and technical musicianship and goes for an elegant mix of RPI and symphonic prog. It achieved such a charming and magical sound that few bands could capture this late in their careers. However, they still managed to capture a highly progressive sound. As for the best songs, Pista 6 and Wormhole have got to be some of the greatest things Alphataurus has made. Even though I've been talking about how great this album is, I have to give it a 4/5 because, as I've mentioned, it doesn't have that progressive punch other albums bring to the table. I'm fine with this divine sound they have with this album (as I love this sound if you couldn't tell throughout the review), but it could be more progressive and probably not an absolute essential or masterpiece of the genre.

4. Wormhole for its piano variation is worth the trip; after that it's RPI again and again, good but a bit saturated to see a movement draw and draw again from their own creations; the guitar arpeggio break catches my ear, well yes a whiff of GENESIS has something to do with it; chorus on 'Your Own Special Way'; good 8 minutes and the drum beat of 'The Knife', too much is too much anyway; I'm going to be told that 2 chords in rock promote similarities but still; a hell of an impression the heavy jazzy prog finale with this keyboard that reminds me too much of... okay I'll shut up 5. Meta e Metà for the most common title, soft, progressive without overdoing it, that is to say basic RPI with energetic vocals, like on a pop song; a riff all at once, the keyboards provided; break and reprise of the dated keyboard solo, yes I insist the fans of the first hour will like it, it's a fact, the others will be a bit disoriented in front of this sound from another era; the final guitar solo is worth the trip with its long tirade 6. E=mc2 for the bucolic, solemn RPI piece, finally a beautiful melody without an aggressive break between the vocals and the instrumentation; the finale on a Christmas tune surprises and makes you want to listen again.

The album begins with a jazzy interlude from the 12-minute epic "Peccato D'Orgoglio" which quickly transitions into a prog masterclass. After an acoustic section, during which we are introduced to the wonderful voice of Michele Bavaro, the drums and synth pick up the song as Michele's voice reaches new heights right off the bat. Around the 4-minute mark, a drum roll brings us to the next section with heavy Moog, and Hammond Organ. This leads into a beautiful church organ section with a heavily distorted Hammond Organ providing bass. After an extremely Yessian transition, the song goes into an impressive Hammond section which displays the musicianship of Pietro Pellegrini (who would go on to play with PFM). The riff takes a lot of variations with tons of great Moog usage and vocals with more Yessian guitars and tempo. The song goes back to the church organ section, before going back into the heavy Moog riff from earlier in the song to close it out. After the absolute masterpiece, the second song "Dopo l'uragano," is probably the weakest on the album (Although it is by no means bad). It opens with wailing screams from Michele Bavaro over the guitar before going into the organ and guitar-dominated verse section. Halfway through the song, a phased-drum solo brings us into an interesting shorter instrumental part. The song closes on the acoustic theme from the beginning.

"Croma," is the shortest song on the album and acts as a bridge between the two pairs of songs. This song is extremely synth and strings-dominated switching between the jumpy, bach-esque build-up sections and the grand violin sections that make the song great. Organ comes in at the end to close out what might be the most Italian prog-sounding song of all time. "La mente vola," marks the second great epic of the album, clocking in at 9:00. It opens up with very impressive Moog work from Pellegrini for about 3 minutes. It then transitions into a piano-driven section with soft guitars and some of Michele Bavaro's best vocal work on the album. The first chorus leads back into the verse pretty normally, but by the second chorus, we get an iconic Moog solo from Pellegrini to go back into the verse, during which we hear an unexpected Xylophone solo. The song ends on the same Moog solo from before. The album closes on my personal favorite song, "Ombra Muta" which is just a little longer than the prior song. After an organ-dominated intro, we get one of Bavaro's most underrated vocal performances ever. The song then transitions into a fast section where Pellegrini solos on the Hammond over his own bass line. The guitar work from guitarist Guido Wassermann is really impressive here too. After an amazing Moog solo from Pellegrini, the fast-paced section finally comes to an end transitioning back into the intro with the ethereal guitars of Guido Wassermann over the echoing organ of Pietro Pellegrini. The song closes out on a high note (ignoring the weird instrumental things that they do for a few seconds in the end) and it's a perfect close to the album.

I really wish bands like Alphataurus and Alphataurus themselves had made more albums, but it seems like circumstances always got the best of these guys. They had the potential to have long careers with dozens of albums, but alas we are left with a 40-minute snapshot of what could've been. This album is about 4.7 stars for me, but I'll round it to a 5 because of the stunning musicianship. Highly recommended to all prog fans.

Alphataurus, as a band, caught my interest instantly. I'm used to listening to foreign music, or music in other languages, so this was no large feat for me. The first song I ever heard on this album was 'La Mente Vola', and I fell in love. I found some other songs from Alphataurus to enjoy, but never found the time to listen to this album. It is that time. The record starts off with 'Le Charmadere(Peccato D'orgoglio)', which translates to 'The Charmadere(Sin of Pride)'. This is the longest song on the album, running at over twelve minutes. This track features Robert Plant-esque vocals and a nice classic rock feel to it. 'Dopo l'Uragano', the second track, translates to 'After The Hurricane'. This song, I find, is pretty annoying. Even when the acoustic guitar is soft in the background, the vocalist decides to shout at the top of his lungs. In terms of music, though, this is a great track. The shortest track on the album, 'Croma', translates to (what did you expect?) 'Chroma'. This song repeats a nice build-up to the music. It is also instrumental. Quite beautiful. Now we reach the great stuff on this album. 'La Mente Vola' translates to 'The Mind Flies', a stellar title for this masterpiece. This song is so freaking amazing, if I write all I want to write about this song l, this review would be ten-thousand words long, so I won't. I like to keep it brief anyway. This song is one of my favorite songs ever. Not for Italian bands, not for progressive rock, but of all time. The track begins with a keyboard intro only comparable to Pink Floyd's 'On The Run', then moves into a soft(ish) rock tune with the best vocals on this album. I would honestly sit down and analyze this entire song from start to finish, but I'm lazy. Close to the end, the xylophone enters the scene in a short but amazing solo. At the very end there is a return to the keyboard intro, although this time an endtro. This track reminds me slightly of ELP. The next one, 'Ombra Muta', does too. 'Ombra Muta' translates to 'Silent Shadow'. Funky and psychedelic in nature, this track does not disappoint, although it doesn't really stand out that much either. If this album ended with 'Croma' or 'La Mente Vola' it would be much better, but this record is still great. Prog on.

Opener Le Chamadere (Peccato D'Orgoglio) is a combination of excellent dynamic organ led prog with bubbling moogs, complex drumming, harpsichord (spinet) and symphonic flourishes. The instrumental opening section shows off the dexterity of the rhythm section right away before we are introduced to excellent vocalist Michele Bavaro. Catchy and complex at the same time with excellent moog runs that fall into the room shaking bass frequencies. Bits of Dance on a Volcano are a reference point in the closing section. One of the highlights of the album.

Song two, Dopo L'Uragano , is a riff on Led Zeppelin style rock filtered through heavy Tull that still retains a prog edge but shows off their musical abilities before returning to some vocals from Bavaro. It wouldn't be out of place in any early UK proto prog band. The closer to side one is a spinet workout that leads to a full on well charted and sophisticated faux symphonic flourish that would make the Enid proud. (another band that could convincingly simulate an orchestra without any orchestral instruments employed, which the inner sleeve notes here.)

Side two begins with La Menta Vola, a song that any prog head would love-string synths, ringing keyboards, subtle vibraphone, ambient flute, playful drum lines all lay out a slow building journey as deep moog lines begin to build underneath in an ELP fashion, with a bit of Le Orme stirred in there. Finishes with some excellent gurgling sound effects from the moog over the fade out. Ombra Muta is one of the other highlights of the album. It starts like an Italian version of Novalis, but halfway through they are off and running in a high energy instrumental organ/guitar/bass/drums UK style prog workout. (drummer Giorgio Santandrea is excellent in his busy but subtle attacks on the kit). Great synth on this song too, as keyboardist Pellegrini knows how to coax 'sound' out of a synth, rather than just play lines on it. Nice crashing fake ending that leads to an intricate low key Crimson-ish guitar led fade out to the album.

Fairly well recorded throughout, I think this one would play well with non RPI fans if folks want to go out and indoctrinate the unaware. Heavy rock and symphonic classical mix together nicely. Not perfect but an essential addition to an RPI collection. Fans of Campo di Marte and Metamorfosi will probably dig this, as well as Balleto di Bronzo and heavier New Trolls fans.

Absolutely stunning triple gatefold painting on the LP is one of the best album covers in Italian rock. Cool inner photo of the band takes up all three inner panels. Lyrics are printed on the right hand panel.

4.25 stars

While not necessarily pioneering in originality within the Italian prog scene, Alphataurus's sonic tapestry evokes echoes of revered contemporaries like Museo Rosenbach and Il Balletto di Bronzo. Fronted by the distinctive voice of Michele Bavaro and propelled by the virtuosic keyboard wizardry of Pietro Pellegrini, whose homage to Keith Emerson's influence is unmistakable yet skillfully executed, the band is rounded out by Guido Wasserman's meticulous guitar work and a formidable rhythm section comprising Alfonso Oliva on bass and Giorgio Santandrea on drums.

In 1973, this quintet from Milan unleashed a debut album that defied expectations with its maturity, cohesion, and execution, particularly remarkable considering it marked the fledgling efforts of a newly signed group. While recording their sophomore effort the same year, Alphataurus disbanded abruptly, leaving behind unfinished recordings. In a fortuitous turn of events, Mellow Records unearthed and released these recordings in 1992 as "Dietro l'uragano," offering a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been.

"Alphataurus" comprises five tracks, three sprawling epics interspersed with two shorter, more straightforward compositions. The opener, "Peccato D'Orgoglio" (Sin of Pride), navigates between gentle, quintessentially Italian prog melodies and thunderous "metal" passages with effortless grace. Standout tracks include the mesmerizing "La Mente Vola," marked by a powerful and futuristic instrumental introduction that predates Jean-Michel Jarre's pioneering work by three years, and the hauntingly beautiful closer, "Ombra Muta."

For aficionados of Italian prog, "Alphataurus" is a cherished gem, encapsulating all the quintessential elements that define the subgenre within progressive rock. From intricately woven compositions adorned with folk-inspired melodies to thunderous bursts of heavier passages, the album showcases a kaleidoscope of musical influences ranging from classical to blues, jazz, and hard rock. Alphataurus effortlessly masters this intricate blend, exemplifying the hallmark of Italian prog with consummate skill and finesse.

are on par with the debut album. The first track certainly matches them - it provides the needed instrumental complexity.

The second track is also adventureous but has the unfinished feel. I'd like to highlight the work of the drummer here which is put quite heavy in the mix.

Claudette has, despite poor sound quality, nice keyboard layers and emotions.

This album has three stars but if the recording quality were better, add another half-star to it.

However, guitar is more present than on a typical RPI album.

Three compositions reach over 9 minutes and the band have enough space to develop the music ideas.

Vocals remind me of early Kaipa because of the expression and voice colour. Guitar player is skilled and shows inclination to hard rock. Keyboards are almost always present and creative, from piano, organ to synthesizers.

The bass and drums greatly support the leading instruments.

My favourite parts are instrumental sections when the whole group shines on and these is evidenced in each song.

The first track sums up the band skills and inspiration. Changes of dynamism won't allow listeners to rest on laurels.

"Dopo l'uragano" has a more rock/hard-rock flavour than progressive rock but can be called anthemic. "Croma" is probably my favourite section on the album because it is so symphonic and solemn with keyboards in the foreground.

"La mente vola" has a nice vibraphone-sounding solo and a clear melody heavily dominated by keyboards.

"Ombra muta" is instrumentally the most complex song with plenty of interactions and it could have been more coherently done without brief vocals.

A good addition to anyone's RPI collection.

ALPHATAURUS were virtually unknown yet scored some festivals in 1972 when Vittorio De Scalzi of New Trolls scouted them out for his first musical act to be released on his nascent Magma Records. While fitting in with the overall sound spectrum of the Rock Progressive Italiano scene ALPHATAURUS was also notable for utilizing outsider influences such as England's Uriah Heep with their heavy rock approach as well as Van Der Graaf Generator with their moody moog saturated melodic passages that schizophrenically shapeshifted without notice. The band consisted of five members: Guido Wasserman on guitar, Pietro Pellegrini on piano, Hammond organ, Moog, vibraphone and spinet, Alfonso Oliva on bass, Giorgio Santandrea on drums, timpani, congas and Michele Bavaro as the passionately romantic lead vocalist. Their sole album of the 70s also consists of five tracks with three lengthy pieces as well as two shorter with each track having its own distinct identity making ALPHATAURUS' debut a nice diverse listening experience.

The opener "Le Chamedere (Peccato D'Orgoglio) delivers all the classic Italian sounding goods. Moody moog opening sequence followed by the pastoral Genesis inspired acoustic guitar passages that build into heavier and more dynamic crescendoes to follow. Stylistically Bavaro's vocal performances often remind me of Osanna's Lino Vairetti with his passionate pleas subtly ratcheting up into aggressive frenzies. Likewise some of the musical pieces can at times carry an Osanna tinged flavor albeit without the Neapolitan flavors that exist in the Southern Italy regions. ALPHATAURUS also borrow a lot from fellow country dwellers PFM with heavy Hammond organ attacks that hint of an ELP approach but crafted into strong flavors rather than bombastic head butts. "Dopo L'Uragano" follows suit with arpeggiated guitars buttressed with classical piano tinklings and Uriah Heep styled power chord progressions but catches the listener off guard by detouring into funk rock as well as with a roller coaster ride of changes that follow.

"Croma," the tiny track sandwiched between the others is a way cool spinet performance that cedes into a dramatic symphonic dreamscape. "La Mente Vola" features a wickedly cool moog and spinet combo intro with the track progressing into myriad different styles and shapeshifting gymnastics on its way to the ending smoking hot vibraphone solo workout. Augmented by a strong bass line, the guitar is allowed to soar in atmospheric free fall or in tasty blues fashion. Bavaro's vocal antics are hardly a one-trick pony. Versatile in all respects not only reminds of Osanna's Vairetti but has the chops to bring PFM, Banco and Museo Rosenbach to mind as well with sing-along style melodies that take progressive liberties with oft utilized time signature deviations and classically infused piano runs. "Ombra Muta" the near ten minute closer which continues the subtly seductive intro that ratchets up the dynamics scale until it builds into a Moog dominated soundscape with a pumping beefy ostinato bass line, heavy percussive drive and tastily delivered guitar chops complete with soloing techniques.

ALPHATAURUS may not stand out as totally original on the first couple listens as they evoke the other better known acts of the day with aspects adopted from all of them, however this band had an interesting way of presenting those elements in a distinct new form and added dynamics such as the often "reserved for jazz only" vibraphone to the mix with pleasing results. The harmonically rich melodic romps through the by then classic Rock Progressivo Italiano sound is as refined as a diamond cut from the deepest mines in Botswana. Romantic and pacifying, ALPHATAURUS flirted with bombast without ever fully diving in. While not as deftly virtuosic as Banco or PFM, nor as aggressively astute as Osanna, Area or Il Balletto Di Bronzo, ALPHATAURUS was about delivering heavily melodic compositional constructs that took the smoothness of bands like Le Orme and Il Balletto Di Bronzo and added a few new twists and turns. While some regard this as one of the greatest albums of the scene, as good as it is, it seems like it could've offered a few more original takes and not rely as much on the tricks and trinkets of their fellow countrymen. Nevertheless, this debut album is indeed a classic that kicks ass and delivers all the Italian prog goods in perfect pitch and that is a good thing.