INFERNO

I love any album with an 'Inferno' concept... not being an Italian speaker myself, i'm not sure if this album is based on Dante's Inferno or if it's just a general theme of Hell. All i know is that this album is imbued with tartarean darkness, even without the words making sense. An ominous and malefic atmosphere is exuded by many of the sections... especially the darker moments of the anthemic 'Introduzione' and the diabolical 'Lucifero'.

The songs all bleed together into one long, heavy, infernal suite... the music is very classically-influenced, but the majority of the material is up-tempo and synth-driven. Enrico Olivieri's multi-tracked and multi-layered synthesizer/organ onslaught is the band's primary driving force, and is also the most interesting aspect of Metmorfosi's sound. Olivieri displays both technical virtuosity and tasteful musical restraint... I love the way he manipulates the analog synth sounds as he plays; the album is totally saturated in classic warm Mooginess.

Lead singer Jimmy Spitaleri has a dark resonant baritone and sings with quite an operatic flair. Sometimes his vibrato is a little 'over-the-top' and verges on comical, but his style suits these dramatic songs very well. The excellent vocal harmonies on 'Lussuriosi' remind me of Uriah Heep's David Byron.

The production is very raw, and the cymbals especially have a very grating and brittle sound... it's a shame the drums were not recorded better. The rest of the instruments sound good and the mixing is perfect (for my tastes) with everything having approximately the same volume and balance. The rawness does add a lot of bite and heaviness to the album, so i don't mind that it's not a crystal clear Alan Parsons type production.

I highly recommend Inferno to anyone with even a slight interest in Rock Progressivo Italiano... i even think fans of 70's 'Heavy Prog' may find something to like on this album.