LA BIBBIA

The debut of Il Rovescio Della Medaglia is a raw sounding album, retaining a live feel throughout. More than full blown prog, it treads the same ground as the giants of hard rock like Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. Therein lies both the strength and the weakness of the album: It is very well done despite the raw production, the songs are energetic and the riffs are good, but there's no real originality to be found here. Also Il Nulla and Il Diluvio, the opener and the closer of the album respectively, are just random noises, a bit what Iommi liked to do in Black Sabbath. Needless to say that they are dragging the album down a bit in their uselessness to the sound of the album. Of the individual songs, Sodoma e Gomorra is a highlight, a very energetic sounding jam, lots of good guitar soloing featuring great drumming and bass playing. Drums and bass must be mentioned also as they are really, really good, keeping the album from being outright mundane.

2 stars, a solid, good album but not essential in any way, and not original in any way.