KING'S JOURNEY

For the recordings of a second album the official core of Fancyfluid was reduced to the Goria/Bruni/Annone trio with Max Gotta and Roberto Pasquino leaving the group, the later went on to join Pictures.The whole process was carried out with Pietro Ratto of Aton's on electric guitars and Gianfabio Cappello on drums.Several guests appear in the album, entitled ''King's journey'', with the most significant ones being Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's Rodolfo Maltese on guitar and Calliope's Rinaldo Doro on a few folk-oriented instruments.The recordings took place at the Transeuropa Studio in Torino between February and May 1992 (except Maltese's parts, which were recorded in Rome) and the album was released the same year on Musea, this time though only in CD format.

This work shows a good development over the indifferent debut of the group, at least considering the composing level, because some of the weak points of Fancyfluid's music are still present, like the thin keyboards or the plastic sound of the flutes.Stylistically they are very close to compatriots LEVIATHAN and EDITH, playing a smooth Neo Prog with some 70's echoes and offering evident Folk colors quite frequently, recalling ERIS PLUVIA.The combination is well-worked by the group, creating dreamy and ethereal arrangements, often delivered in the same track, either through acoustic lines with flutes supporting or over a more symphonic-driven sound with the keyboards in evidence.The man behind the flute work, Marco Giaccaria, is also responsible for the violin textures appearing throughout, making the status of the group even more Folk-oriented.However the bedrock of Fancyfluid's music is still a GENESIS-inspired light Symphonic Rock with electroacoustic changes and dramatic, emotional vocals in English (which tend to be quite irritating because of the heavy Italian accent), showered with deep atmospheres, but generally lacking the composing depth or instrumental diversity of the masters.MARILLION are still an omnipresent influence, especially in the more keyboard-oriented tracks, and the group fails to escape from the generic rules set by the monster bands of the past.Overall the music is not bad at all, but it lacks the power and richness of more talented acts.The peak of Fancyfluid comes at the more atmospheric or melodic passages, but the questionable quality of the flat keyboards, the accented voices and the mediocre production are preventing factors from fully enjoying the album.Honorable mention to ''Alchemic'', which eventually shows the band's full potential: Dramatic keyboards, vocals and electric guitars, supported by a nice ending trumpet solo by Maltese.

A step forward compared to ''Weak waving'', but still something is missing from this release to be considered strongly recommended.Too mellow music, suffering from an 80's-styled instrumental armour.Nevertheless I can see some Neo Prog fans enjoying some of the contained material, thus ''King's Journey'' comes recommended to this circle of Prog followers...2.5 stars.