L'ENIGMA DELLA VITA

Personally, I consider the Italian progressive rock music is one of the finest around the world, mainly in its musical composition, from the quality of the musicians and their ability to use classical arrangements and work out their ideas in such a perfectionism and with the ability to fuse the emotional with the intellectual, blending many rhythm changes, with pure classical influences, progressive rock, hard rock, jazz, baroque, with the Mediterranean regional rhythms. There are many examples, especially in the 70's, but probably the best and most important of all are Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme and Area. However, besides them many others could be mentioned too.

But, even in our days the best tradition of the Italian prog rock scene persists in many Italian bands. And one of the best examples that we can mention is really this band Logos. The brief history of Logos has began in 1996 with three musicians that already played for a long time, the keyboardist Luca Zerman, the bassist and guitarist Fabio Gaspari and the drummer Alessandro Perbellini. They started playing mainly Le Orme and Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso exploiting the potentialities of the three instruments formation, so typical of so many groups in the progressive rock scene in the 70's.

Logos released their eponymous debut studio album in 1999 and their second 'Asrava' in 2001. With a considerably delayed, compared to the release of the two previous albuns, Logos reappeared again in the world of the prog rock scene with their third studio work. After a long period of silence, a total of thirteen years, the band finally released their album, titled 'L'Enigma Della Vita', playing a symphonic music, in the same line and with the same energy of the best Italian classic prog rock bands. Logos may be ranked into the symphonic progressive rock style. All compositions on 'L'Enigma Della Vita' are dominated by wonderful atmospheric keyboards creating a variety of amazing arrangements. The guitars come with wonderful solos in the background, where the bass guitar follows the rhythm with the drums.

So, 'L'Enigma Della Vita' is the third studio album of Logos that was released in 2014. The line up on the album is Maoli Massimo (guitars), Luca Zerman (lead vocals, Hammond organ, Mellotron and synthesizer), Claudio Antolini (piano, keyboards and synthesizer) and Fabio Gaspari (bass and drums). The album had also the participation of Gianbattista Bodel (vocals), Simone Bistaffa (guitar), Alessandro Perbellini (drums) and Simone Chiampan (drums). 'L'Enigma Della Vita' contains eleven tracks, 76 minutes of pure emotion. It features everything we've come to love about Italian prog. All tracks have an excellent performance. I could not honestly choose a standout track. They all work well across the album. The attention to the details is really amazing and all the tracks have killer moments. The tracks work in an organic way, full of quality, mixing light and shade, moving from the pastoral to the powerful and back again.

'Antifona' is a short track that opens the album with a dramatic and powerful synthesizer work. 'Venivo Da Un Lungo Sonno' is a magical track trading deftly off one melodic line by another, successively. It highlights what was to come on the album. 'In Fuga' has a beautiful madrigal medieval melody. It manages to deliver a load of musical change ups with a distinct classical feel. 'Alla Fine Dell'Ultimo Capitolo' is a solid track with a vibrant melody and a solid style. It sounds different from the previous tracks but remains delightfull to me. 'N.A.S.' reminds me King Crimson, especially the guitar work. This is a powerful track full of energy with its variety of the instrumental sounds. 'L'Enigma Della Vita' has a very unique peculir sound. The time, mood and signature change several times without losing its continuity. 'In Principio' has a nice intro with keys, acoustic guitar and vocals. The different layers of sound creat a great synergy in the Italian 70's prog rock vibe. 'Completamente Estranei' delivers again a wide range of styles and time changes. It's a lovely track with nice synth and guitar works. 'In Quale Luogo Si Fermò Il Mio Tempo' is a beautiful and eloquent piece for solo piano, despite its shortness. 'Pioggia In Campagna' is a track with true amazing keyboard fireworks. It's representative of the band's sound, including the harmony between keyboards and guitar. 'Il Rumore Dell'Aria' is a short track with a narrated epilog and wind rustling through the trees. It ends the album in the same vein as it started.

Conclusion: 'L'Enigma Della Vita' combines the best of the classic Italian prog, Le Orme, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco Dell Mutuo Soccorso with the melodic sensibilities of Camel and Genesis and the creativity of King Crimson. Their music, based on the classic prog rock of the 70's, will be loved by many progheads. Most of all by those who enjoy albums made by the aforementioned bands, and who enjoy a good balance between guitar and keyboards, as well as the use of classical elements. Though keyboards feature heavily in this release, unsurprising given the line up, this is well balanced by the superb rhythm section and the hard edged, Hackett style guitar. It has everything we've come to expect from the genre and the band manages to infuse their music with many of their own unique classical influences.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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