MADRI SENZA TERRA

Madri Senza Terra, released in 2006 is my first encounter with Italians Abash but I'm very pleased to have discovered them. They're a six piece comprising of the typical bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals and drums line-up with the addition of a dedicated percussionist, not too common in prog bands.

The most striking thing about Abash is the beautiful vocals of Annarita Luceri, whose pure and emotive voice with a considerable range to boot really marks her out as something special. She soars over the music which mixes neo prog touches, rock and metal with not only Italian folk, but Arabic influences as well making Madri Senza Terra quite an original album. The songs capture beautiful acoustic elements like on Maràn Athà to heavier pieces such as Niuru Te Core. The addition of a dedicated percussionist is made good use of and makes good sense to capture the rhythmic feel of the middle eastern influences, none more apparent than on Salente E Africa, whilst the drums drives things along, for the most part keeping it simple. Strong melodies reveal themselves but it took a few plays before they really took hold. Despite sitting in the heavy prog sub genre here on PA many of the guitar riffs are of a more metallic nature but the diversity of influences and musical styles excludes them from being considered a prog metal band.

The standard of musicianship is high on a consistently strong album that if anything improves in the second half with tracks like Otranto 14 Agosto 1480, with some strong instrumental interplay and Annarita really soaring to some breathtaking highs, setting a high benchmark that for the most part they manage to attain.

Although released in 2006 Madri Senza Terra was re-released in 2010 so should not be too hard to track down and it's well worth the effort.