CHOCOLATE KINGS

Relevant players on the progressive scene on their own merits, Premiata Forneria Marconi go for more and for the release of "Chocolate Kings", their first album directly phrased in English, they incorporate Bernardo Lanzetti, ex- member of Acqua Fragile, an Italian band with similar roots, as their lead singer. With a deeper and more histrionic tone than Franco Mussida, very much given to describing crystalline melodic landscapes, Lanzetti and his voice evidently related to that of Peter Gabriel, contributes to PFM's musical proposal acquiring a denser and more dramatic texture, tucked undisguised under the umbrella of the recognisable structures of the genre.

The album is sustained by the vertigo and anxiety of its bipolar developments, as in the demanding "From Under" and Lanzetti's vocal dalliances, or in the allegorical and initially acoustic "Harlequin" and its intense instrumentation featuring Mauro Pagani's violins and flutes and Flavio Premoli's vertiginous keyboards, or in the accelerated "Chocolate Kings" where, once again, Premoli and his keyboards (with a very present Hammond), engage in a colourful dispute with Mussida's guitars.

And without a pause for breath, two tracks of Genesian lineage to complete a very good album: the splendorous "Out of the Roundabout" and its superb instrumentation, shows, as on the whole album, a decidedly energetic Franz Di Cioccio on percussion, before moving on to the heartbroken "Paper Charms", with Pagani's schizoid violin standing out, with Lanzetti pushing his vocal chords to the limit until the epic finale.

The controversy surrounding the band's support for the Palestinian cause at a very sensitive time meant that they had problems with the proper dissemination and distribution of "Chocolate Kings" in the North American market, limiting their chances of success on a wider scale. A pity.

3.5/4 stars