LA MASCHERA DI CERA

Simply trying to play, nowadays, the style of the great prog music from the 70's can go very wrong, especially when the respective interpreters aren't bringing their own ideas. But, fortunately this isn't the case of Fabio Zuffanti. It's really difficult to keep a complete overview of all of Zuffanti's projects. The bassist, who made a name for himself for tasteful retro-Italo-Prog with Finisterre and Hostsonaten in particular, has, in addition to these completely different projects (including the rock opera "Merlin"), another band La Maschera Di Cera. La Maschera Di Cera is another retro-prog project founded in 2001 by Zuffanti. With this new project, Zuffanti wanted to revive the "golden age of the Italo-Prog".

Right from the beginning, it became very clear the band's clear intention to walk on the paths of some of the best and most iconic Italian prog bands from the 70's, such as Le Orme, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Museo Rosenbach, Alphataurus, Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Osanna, and Metamorfosi, only to mention some of them. But, apart from that, the band managed to develop its own style and originality, playing the retro-Italo-Prog in their way. This is especially due to the influence of Andrea Monetti , who, with his particular flute playing style, enlarged and enriched the band's musical spectrum with influences that bring to our memory one of the best British prog bands, Jethro Tull.

"La Maschera Di Cera" is the eponymous debut studio album of La Maschera Di Cera and that was released in 2002. Besides Fabio Zuffanti (vocals, bass and acoustic guitar), the line up on "La Maschera Di Cera" consists of Alessandro Corvaglia (lead and backing vocals), Agostini Macor (Mellotron, piano, prepared piano, organ, Moog, harpsichord and VCS 3 synth), Andrea Monetti (flute) and Marco Cavani (drums, timpani and percussion). Their sef-titled debut work had also the participation of Nadia Girardi (vocals) as a guest female artist.

In terms of musicianship, "La Maschera Di Cera" is just an amazing work. "La Maschera Di Cera" is a great prog piece of music. The music on "La Maschera Di Cera" goes back to the best symphonic Italian progressive rock music conducted by Mellotron and Moog tracked by bands like Museo Rosenbach or Il Balleto Di Bronzo. All the ingredients are present with distorted basses, guitars, acoustic guitars, an excellent vocalist and some very inspired flute passages that can complete the ensemble. The result is a nostalgic flash-back to the roots of Italian Progressive Rock, alternating the smooth and intense progressive moments, dark musicality, haunting vocals, incredible Hammond organ work and rhythmic flute passages that provide a beautiful experience that only the Italian symphonic prog rock is able to create.

"La Maschera Di Cera" has four tracks. The first track is the title track "La Maschera Di Cera" divided in six parts: "Il Tuo Volto", "La Tua Gente", "Il Tuo Fugio", "La Tua Irrealta", "La Tua Guida" and "La Mia Fine?". The suite "La Maschera Di Cera" is superb, never losing its intrigue. It punches us within its almost 20 minutes long. It's filled with passionate singing and brilliant keyboard work. It can compete with any of the long pieces of 70's Italian prog bands. It has pure symphonic prog rock with totally analog sound, great vocals, flutes, Mellotrons and Hammonds. It has many melodies and positive feeling, energy and some hard moments. The spirit of "Zaratustra" lives on in "Del Mio Mondo Che Crolla". It's dominated by Zuffanti's heavy bass lines, Jethro Tull-like flute work improvisations, layers of Moog and Mellotron and Corvaglia's dark vocals. The melody sounds somewhat reminiscent of the earlier piece. "Del Mio Abisso E Del Tuo Vuoto" is divided in three parts: "Il Vuoto", "L'Abisso" and "E Senza U Peso Io Salgo". It's the darkest track on the album, wonderful and enigmatic with a similar line in sound and quality. It starts with smooth piano, but soon the track turns into a haunted piece of music with dramatic vocals and a ghostly atmosphere created by keyboards, flute and female vocals. "Del Mio Volo" comes as a cross between Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and Museo Rosenbach with atmospheric vocals, mostly acoustic guitars and perfect keyboards. It has a gentle folk intro, which it slowly builds, climaxing with the revisited Moog theme. Despite it's a relatively short track, this a great ending to a great album, really.

Conclusion: "La Maschera Di Cera" is a great work. Everything we missed in the 70's Italian prog rock scene and especially the heavy sound of the symphonic rock is included on this album. With plenty of retro-like synths, piano, organ, and Mellotron, along with the periodic inclusion of flute, not to mention the numerous and varied song segments, tempo changes, and appealing atmospheres, this is the kind of albums that appeals to me. Although not the most original release of all time, this work contains some truly amazing songs with some truly amazing vocal work. So, I immediately sensed this would be a band that I could savor for a long time to come. It seems incredible that Zuffanti could have given us two albums so good as this one and Hostsonaten's "Springsong", in the same year. Anyone into the Rock Progressivo Italiano should listen to this album and all fans of 70's Italian prog rock, should buy it right now.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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