ATTO TERZO

Italian band Delirio Sonoro has an extensive history going back to 1991, with quite a few changes in line-up and sound throughout. "Atto Terzo" is their third full length effort and was released in 2009, developed for close to a decade.

The compositions on this effort are uneven and varied in sound as well as quality. Final number Darkest Hour may arguably be the best effort found here, with it's blend of laid-back psychedelic guitar licks, wandering piano textures and mournful brass bursts, with a steady beat and lead vocals seemingly inspired by Asian/Pakistani traditions.

The lush psychedelic textures and screeching sax textures of It's Braining Again is another highlight, alongside opening number Avventura featuring laid-back space-tinged inserts in between the talking voices and staccato synths in the verse parts.

The other numbers are generally less interesting though. From the lazy dark symphonic dramatics of Un Altro Marte to the more avantgarde-tinged antics of found on tracks like E Se Domani and Lascio Andare Il Mio Riposo and the other compositions in between these compositions just doesn't manage to produce atmospheres, moods or themes that manage to draw my attention in. Most of these efforts comes across as tracks on the borderline between mainstream oriented and experimental, with a slick production and dampened instrumental expressions yet also featuring dissonances, arrhythmical and erratic themes and often vocals of an experimental nature as well.

As this album has been developed over many years with a shifting personnel, this may be a clue as to why these tracks comes across as fragmented and not really convincing though. Underdeveloped is a description sometimes used for compositions, but in this case I suspect overly developed might be a keyword. Or that I just don't have a wide enough scope in my personal music taste to encompass nor understand what the band wants to achieve with this disc.

The good tracks are well worth lending an ear to though, first and foremost if you have an interest in laid-back progressive rock with psychedelic tendencies in a musical landscape that also features some neat electronic textures spread throughout.