IN HOC SIGNO

A work that is teeming with brilliant ideas and offers superb vocal parts. The musicians have excellent technique. But that doesn't suit me. I think the concern comes from the compositions themselves. I have the impression of listening to Quella Vecchia Loccanda who wants to play jazz-rock but cannot do so, because of the violin parts with a classical tendency, badly associated with jazz. The problem certainly comes from there, moreover: an over-use of jazz gimmicks which bring nothing to the compositions. The tracks do not include a real guideline, we have the impression of a long mastered improvisation, a bit like a jam-session where many minor / major transitions destabilize the listening. Moreover, it is almost impossible to know where the pieces start and stop because these (sometimes unfortunate) transitions are so numerous. Are we always listening to the same song, or the next one? They could have glued everything together and made only one track, that there would have been no difference. Even if the central part (Fuga Da Amman / Kairuv'an / Masquat) seems more controlled to me.

I bought In Hoc Signo when it was released (2013) but never managed to appreciate it. Probably good... but non-essential.