DUTY FREE AREA

This Italian Jazz / Fusion band came highly recommended to me but I wasn't expecting the Spacerock flavour that is on that first track. In fact the OZRIC TENTACLES came to mind throughout it. The rest is very much a keyboard driven brand of Italian Fusion. When there are vocals they sound great..

"Escher" is one of my favourites. Deep bass sounds opens as synths swirl about. Guitar comes in grinding out some melodies.The guitar takes off as it's played with some energy before 3 minutes. The percussion before 6 minutes is cool. Sounds like fuzz organ 8 1/2 minutes in. Nice. "Caleidoscopio" is a mellow, relaxing song with vocals. We get some spacey synths plus vibraphone. It starts to get heavy but not for long. This is really good ! Vocals are back 4 minutes in. Lots of keys and spacey synths as drums pound away. Quite jazzy 5 1/2 minutes in with some excellent guitar a minute later.

"Esperanto" features the vocals from the singer (Alberto Piras) for DEUS EX MACHINE. D.F.A. have been compared to this fellow Italian band, but they're not as crazy. Alberto actually produced D.F.A.'s debut album and signed them to his label. He can sing man ! This song is an uptempo Jazz / Fusion style song with the vocals arriving 3 1/2 minutes in. Guitar, synths and keys all share the spotlight. "Ascendente Scorpione" opens with light drums and synths.The sound then becomes more powerful as this contrast continues. "Ragno" has some great angular guitar in it. More Jazz / Fusion with spacey synths coming and going. Quite the haunting and spacey atmosphere 7 minutes in. Some great guitar follows as drums and keys join in.Nice sound. Angular guitar is back 11 minutes in. "Malia" is another terrific track. Beautiful instrumental work as female vocals come in. Male vocals join in as a support. This is very laid back with synths. Gorgeous song.

I think this recording will please a lot of people. It crosses into a few territories. Highly recommended.