LE CITTÀ INVISIBILI

Obscura is an interesting Italian prog band from Mantova that was formed in the nineties. The recording sessions for this work took place in 1997 but the album was released by Mellow Records only ten years later, when the band was already on a long "hiatus". The sound quality is far from flawless, especially the vocal parts (the singer Davide Cagnata joined the band at the very last moment before the studio sessions replacing the original singer Luca Pallaschi and had a very short time for rehearsal), but the overall result is not bad at all. Although lyrics are not completely convincing, the band managed to put together some good compositions, in part inspired by the portraits of imaginary cities depicted by the Italian writer Italo Calvino in his novel "Le città invisibili" (Invisible Cities)...

You can find here a very nice flute work and inspired piano passages with atmospheres that every now and again remind me of early Genesis and BMS, but there are also heavier moments like in "Ombra tra la folla" (Shadow among the crowd). In my opinion the highlights of the album are "Guernica" and the dreamy instrumental "Zemrude" that tries to describe in music a city whose form depends on the mood of the people who look at it...

On the whole this album is not a masterpiece but the band had a good potential and it's a pity that they have stopped their activity... If you love Italian Symphonic prog, have a try!