IL PASSO DEL SOLDATO

If you like Italian Progressive Rock it's likely you're going to love this concept album. NUOVA ERA was a band of the 1980s and 1990s that sounds as good as Italian Prog bands of the 1970s but without sounding stuck in the past. In fact there's a hint of neo-Prog in the music too.

There is no guitarist on this album, but the excellent keyboard player Walter Pini does such an amazing job that you don't notice it. Pini uses piano, Hammond Suzuki with a Leslie and distorter, a Yamaha MS20 synthesizer, and a pair of Korg synthesizers to emulate the Mellotron sound. He uses all these keyboards to great effect. No Mellotrons were used on this album; I know this for fact as I asked Walter Pini: he told me he used Korg synthesizers to simulate the Mellotron sound.

The singer is excellent (he reminds me of Alberto Piras of DEUS EX MACHINA), and the drummer and bass player do a fine job too. Pini's brother wrote the lyrics, which are in Italian (thankfully). The music sounds like a fusion of DEUS EX MACHINA, METAMORFOSI, BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, LE ORME and MUSEO ROSENBACH. It's quite dark in places (not surprising, as the album's concept is 'war') and reminds me quite a bit of the feel of the latter's "Zarathustra". I suppose I should mention Keith Emerson; yes, there are a few little reminders of the maestro, but I'm not reminded of ELP to be honest.

All of the tracks are excellent and it's difficult to single one out. I like the occasional sound effects that Pini has inserted. The tracks 'Il Passo Del Soldato' and 'Armicrazia' are even more impressive when you know that Pini composed them in 1978 when he was 17 years old.

Easily 4 stars (Excellent addition to any Prog Rock collection).