BLACK MOON

Of among all the comebacks which we have attended (and, in many cases, suffered) in the last 15 years, one of the worthiest was that of the emperors of the symphonic rock, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. After an absence of fourteen years from their last studio work (apart from the projects Emerson, Lake and Powell and Three), it was the whole mystery to know how the famous power-trio would sound. They did not do very much noise announcing their return, but nevertheless they offered a product of great quality. In fact, the record is a stylistic continuation of their last albums of the 70: short, very well interpreted tracks, including the typical ballads based on the acoustic guitar and Lake's voice ( Affairs of the heart , Farewell to arms and Footprints in the snow ), the instrumental tracks led by Emerson's keyboards ( Changing states and Closer to home ), the powerful songs in which the three musicians sound compact and play of equally to equally as for level of protagonism ( Black moon , at the level of their big classic ones of long ago; Paper blood , with Lake playing harmonica in the introduction; Better days , slightly more experimental and with a more modern sound), an almost AOR half-time ( Burning bridges ) and a version of Prokofiev's classic "Romeo and Juliet . All in all, a very good record.