SELFIE ERGO SUM

Not for the faint of heart, as they say. Modern RPI enthusiasts Altare Thotemico released their first album in 2009 to some ProgArchives commotion, and they've been building on that creative success ever since. Now three albums into their catalog, they are clearly carrying the torch for RPI (and passionate music, in general) into the modern era. Never static or predictable, they have been evolving quite dramatically with each release. The debut album had some saucy tendencies and bold jazzy leanings, but the overall theme seemed to be paying homage to the 1970s classic RPI scene. On their second album from 2013, Sogno Errando, they changed personnel big time and actually dropped all guitars. The result was a hard shift from the first album into a much jazzier terrain led by piano and sax as lead instruments. Fast forward to 2020 and there are more significant line-up changes afoot. Guitars are back in a big way. Fresh into a global pandemic, Altare Thotemico returned with Selfie Ergo Sum, perhaps their wildest ride yet.

On the third album, AT retain their ability to appreciate the masters like Banco and Area while occasionally toying with the metal tendencies of bands like VIII Strada, but they are not copying anyone else's blueprint, classic or modern. This band marches to the beat of their own drummer. The only constant in their now decade-plus existence is the voice, poetry, and dynamism of Gianni Venturi, one of the finest vocalists on the current RPI landscape. He can pull off all of the many shifting gears with ease, the operatic and bold, the soft and warm, the spoken, the occasionally maniacal. He surrounded himself here with new members Agostino Raimo, Giorgio Santisi, and Filippo Lambertucci (guitar, bass, drums respectively). Finally, new keyboardist Marika Pontegavelli also sings, so we now have a female voice as a collaborative partner to Venturi, which opens up some exciting and original new avenues across several tracks. Her vocals are often inventive and effective additions rather than just having two people trading off song by song. Emiliano Vernizzi and Matteo Pontegavelli bring the brass to round out the line-up.

Selfie Ergo Sum can sometimes feel as disorienting as playing paintball at night while you're baked. Incredible adrenalin rushes are followed by craziness and then hiding out, breathing heavy, and calming down for a bit until it starts again. The first track has a melodic but very heavy edge without being actual metal, of course. "Game Over" has this call and response between Gianni and Marika that feels a bit like a musical send-up on the TV show "Killing Eve." Wild stuff. Only three tracks deep is a knockout moment called "Schopenhauer," a 9-minute mélange of different atmospheres, most notably to me were the long spacy sections with lovely nonverbal vocals, plaintive piano, and effects. Venturi is so well recorded here, his stunning voice alive in the room with only piano behind, as Marika's voice and Agostino's reserved leads soon filter in. Great ambiance. The first three tracks are such an incredible mind-blow. A special shout to the beautiful acoustic guitar playing in "Ologramma Vivo" as well. Everyone's performance on this album is all the more dynamic and dramatic because of how well the tracks are assembled, recorded, and mixed.

It is not until track four, the gorgeous "Madre Terra," that we have a breather so to speak. Every track just keeps introducing new goodies and ideas to explore. Now, one could criticize the overall album for being haphazard or just too "all over the map" for its own good, but that's always been the personality of Altare Thotemico. This is a "throw everything at the wall" band and, in my opinion, it has mostly worked for them. There are so many thrills to the proceedings that you'll eventually trust the process. You eventually realize that the chaos is the point, is cohesive, and actually sets up the more traditional moments to shine with equal appreciation. There is a theatrical flair. There are some unusual choices hidden around the corners. Confidence abounds (at a time when the world needed it.) At times I'm even reminded of what a modern-day, updated Opus Avantra template might sound like. So, very highly recommended indeed. Had I made a "best of 2020" list, this would surely have made my list that year. But please don't play this album when you're distracted. Make sure you spin this when you've got the time to immerse yourself into it and give it the same attention you would watching a live performance. I certainly hope we've not heard the last of this band.

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