FRAMMENTI NOTTURNI

Not as immediately gripping as the first two albums from Unreal City, Frammenti Notturni feels like it's a touch more conventional than they are - rather than taking some of the stylistic detours of those two albums, this just sees the band delivering Italian-style prog that feels like a fairly direct update of the 1970s greats of RPI. The vocals also seem to have been dialled back and are a bit more restrained, leaving it down to the instrumental backing to provide the haunting, mildly gothic atmospheres we've come to associate with the group. The end result is rather good, but I think I'd be happier if I saw them stretching themselves more, as they did with some of the spacey world music influences on Il Paese del Tramonto.