IL-LūDĕRE

I was quite a fan of this Italian progressive rock band's previous album, 'alieNatura', which was released in 2013: this was their second release, but the first with singer Francesco Ciapic. Again, there has been a change in membership between albums, as drummer Paolo Tixi has been replaced by Mattias Olsson (Änglagård, White Willow, Necromonkey), while Anna Holmgren (also of Änglagård) adds her delicate flute to one number. This is a progressive rock album that is dominated by the vocals, and to my ears it works incredibly well. Musically this has a lot in common with the early Seventies progressive rock and hard rock scene, and the use of a strong singer in the hard rock style certainly provides this music with some additional edge. Which is sadly often missing from the progressive scene.

Too many bands seem to forget the "rock" section of "progressive rock", and they can concentrate too much on keyboards and delicacy, but here ITDC are using plenty of dynamics, with light and shade emphasising both areas. But, these guys are still first and foremost a progressive band, it's just that they are refusing to be bound by what many feel is the sort of music that should be coming out of the RPI scene. I really enjoy Francesco's singing style, as his vocals carry emotion and although he can sing higher when he wishes to, he generally stays in the lower registers and this allows emotion to really shine through.

My one regret is that I don't understand Italian, so have no idea at all what he is singing about, but feel that if this had been in English then it would have diminished it somewhat. Yet again this is an incredibly strong release from Black Widow, and well worth investigating.