THE LEGEND OF THE TWO STONEDRAGONS (TWA JORG-J-DRAAK SAGA)

Crystal Phoenix is another in a large population of Italian bands whose music seems to flow freely between metal, classical folk and progressive sounds with fanciful themes that combine legends with loosely historical contexts. Musically they run somewhere between Sad Minstrel and Mago de Oz with instrumentation consisting mostly of electric guitar, woodwinds, electric keyboards and percussion. 'Twa Jorg-J-Draak Saga' (The Legend of the Two Stonedragons' is their second and final studio effort, issued by Black Widow Records in 2003 who also made the band's debut the first release on that label.

Like the band's first record this one is a theme album, in this case a somewhat disjointed tale of apocalyptic nuclear war followed by a period of militant control in which the masses suffer genetic instability while the elite social classes possess electronic chips that manage to reverse deformities. A rumored cure has been developed by the military, who closely guards the antidote until a rogue group of military warriors form a rebel coalition to make the cure available to civilians. You have to read about the theme of the album to get this though, as the lyrics aren't quite consistent with the liner notes story.

The arrangements of songs begins with a prologue of the future state (post-nuclear war), and ends with the more bucolic second half reminiscing on a more innocent day before the world turned upside-down. Interestingly enough I found very little about either the lyrics or the liner notes story that pointed to either dragons or legends, but since this sort of music requires a suspension in reality anyway that's a minor detail.

Musically this is obviously an Italian album as it features beautiful piano passages (on "Remembrance" and "War Again" in particular); lots of recorders, flute and other woodwinds; and plenty of guitar arpeggios during the more strenuous parts.

The band is the brainchild of Myriam Sagenwells Saglimbeni who sings, plays guitar, bass and harp and wrote pretty much all the lyrics in addition to creating the artwork. This lineup is almost completely different than that of the first album with the exception of Saglimbeni and drummer Roberto Mazzo.

Overall I like the instrumentation for the most part, although there's nothing here that is particularly new or innovative from a compositional standpoint. The theme isn't anything earthshaking either, but at least the lyrics and sequencing of songs makes for a contiguous experience and the music is melodic and engaging enough to listen all the way through while keeping one's attention for the most part. On whole I'll say this is a three star out of five effort, an album that would make for decent background music or possibly even mood music on a cool winter evening at home when there's not much to do. Mildly recommended to fans of folk-leaning music with metal nuances such as the 3rd & the Mortal, Sad Minstrel or Bluehorses.

peace