LAVORO D'AMORE

Ivan Rozmainsky's band Roz Vitalis has been churning out great albums of prog folk, chamber rock, and symph prog with amazing regularity since its forming in 2001 as a one man project, but now the band has gotten around to releasing something exceptionally marvelous. Built around a cascade of beautiful chamber minded prog folk driven by pretty flutes and piano, the album works its way through lush soundscapes towards sections of energetic symphonic rock that hold up the centre of the work. In an unexpected turn, it is the rock tracks that are the real treat of the record, being powerful and gripping affairs with penultimate track and consensus favourite "What Are You Thinking About?" sounding like a live cut by Pink Floyd or '70's era King Crimson. The folk sections, though, maintain a brilliance and enjoyability that held my attention from note one. Altogether, it's a very beautiful and eclectic work from beginning to end.