BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO

Biglietto per l'inferno are not obscure anymore, this their debut album earned his place among the best RPI albums in the genre, and with good reason. On top of the regular instrumentation there is the addition of the flute which gives the music a sense of more diversity. I personally love the more aggressive side of the genre, that's why this album appealed to me even on the first listen. The album is a mix between symphonic progressive and some heavy prog, the band go from rocky parts to some quiet delicate moments, containing some good breaks and a lot of surprises. Songs have a very good development not counting on long improvisation or big solos, they are more constructed and well written. All musicians are good from drums to the flute, keys are definitely interesting and has a wide array of warm sounds handling some great piano too, guitar is excellent also ranges from clean to distorted, and have some really rocking riffing and other great lines too. Vocals are another highlight to complete this wonderful ensemble, sung in italian and can be very diverse.

'Ansia' is the opener and has that feel too, it tries to sum up the album or give you a quick introduction of what the album is all about, calm, aggressive, symphonic and progressive. 'Confessione' is maybe my favourite, six minute long but so much is happening there, it goes from a quiet start to rocking in a second, great keys and vocals, the song breaks half way great rocking guitar and some trippy delayed flute,delicate piano is added on the rocking platform towards the end, beautiful, biglietto certainly knows their job. 'Una Strana Regina' is a good example of the sesitivity of the band, starting so mellow with beautiful keys sound and good vocals then hits you on the head with an aggressive break which evolves to another peaceful moment. 'Il Nevare' is mainly rocky with great sound from all. 'L'Amico Suicida' again starts quietly and when you least expect it they attack you with everything they have unleashing some raw sound. The track is 13 minutes that goes by quickly and have a lot of twists and turns, ranges between quiet and loud, and between classical to hard rock, i think it's called progressive rock!!

One of the best RPI albums from the 70's, indicating that italian progressive was a force around the world. For you who seeks the more raw sounding albums in oposite of pastoral italian ones, do not hesitate, this one is for you. I was struggling between 4 or 5 , but i will give it 4 because it does follow a certain line of progressive albums, instead of reinventing it. 4.2, marvelous!!