BLEMMEBEYA

There seems to be a wealth of great prog from Italy these days. This album is an example of that. On this album anyway Akt is a 3-piece and the main instrumentation is guitars, drums and keyboards. There is some guitar synth and other electronics as well. This is a free download on the band's website and apparently the download includes a feature called OpenBlemme whereby one could edit, remix, remove and add parts to the songs. I personally would feel no need to try this out, as I enjoy the album the way it is. This is modern Italian prog which takes influence from the past and mixes it with contemporary influences. Akt are a band not afraid to try things.

The album opens with "Prima Della Fine" which features what sounds like late comedian George Carlin discussing conspiracy theories. Great intro. "L'Assalto" goes straight into some playful symphonic prog featuring great melodies. Nice piano during the very Italian vocal section. The singing is really good in this track, including a little counterpoint. Starting halfway is some excellent staccato organ playing. Somebody speaking in English can be heard before a great synth solo. "TG Egeo" has a prominent upright acoustic bass throughout the whole song. In the middle has backward talking with some nice synth playing.

"Stati D'animo Uniti" opens dark and spacey with cool compressed and phased drums. Repeated sinister organ sets the basis for the song for awhile. Briefly gets folky and festive in the middle before returning to the sinister organ. The folky part comes back again. Toward the end is some great emotional guitar playing. "Di Vento" is the longest song. It starts off sounding post-punk / indie / alternative. The vocals at first are almost rapped. Great melodies in this track. Gets more subdued later with acoustic guitar and piano. Laughter brings us back to the indie/alternative vibe. The upright acoustic bass returns in the middle, along with some lovely flute. Towards the end goes into a Genesis vibe with some hard rocking guitar soloing.

"Mani Aperte" features some rhythmic clapping as a cello or something similar plays in the background. Some Mellotron-like sounds in this track. The majority of this track is a mix of space, symph and folk. Good percussion sounds and electric guitar playing. Vocals at the end. A highlight for sure. "Zeitgeist" is an instrumental which has a nice groove that actually sounds familiar to me. "La Fine" features talk-singing (sometimes echoed) and is the least interesting song musically, if you don't count the intro which has an atmosphere which benefits the rant.

Since this is a free download I would encourage anyone slightly interested in this album to give it a try. Prog isn't dead, it just smells funny and Akt are one of the better smelling groups out there. This is a very modern sounding album and they used a computer to record it. You would think that be a bad thing but the result is a clean and clear sounding album with a nice mix and lots of dynamics. One of the better albums from 2011 I have heard. This gets a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.