L'INFINITO

''Elementi'' was followed by a great tour in South America by Le Orme, visiting Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.In 2002 another tour followed, this time Le Orme played in the biggest Italian cities.2004 sees the Italian prog masters' return to discography with ''L'infinito'', another excellent cover by Paul Whitehead, but the band decided to self-profuce and distribute the album on its own forces.

''L'infinito'' marks one of the most emotional-sounding albums ever composed by Le Orme, partly because Tagliapietra delivered some of his most melodic guitar solos and due to Bassato's 4 years-experience with the band, resulting to some solid atmospheric piano lines.This 17th official studio album by the Italian veterans is split between three particular styles.Some tracks flirt dangerously with Neo Prog, consisting of very melodic guitar solos, emotional vocals and flashy synthesizers, always performed under a very Le Orme-like atmospheric way.Some others are fully orchestrated with dual keyboard attacks, mainly organs and synthesizers, reminding of the band's mid-70's days, and ranging from grandiose passages to light piano interludes.The later part of the album though sees a return to their late- 70's roots, when Le Orme had a huge Ethnic influence in their style, with extended use of acoustic guitars, violins and sitars by the mastermind of the group Aldo Tagliapietra in a very artistic way and always accompanied keyboard parts and a smooth rhythm section, who's voice remains so young and fresh until today.

Another strong, confident, fresh and solid release by a band, who never actually lost the momentum of creating imaginative music.Not the very best album by Le Orme, but definitely a work that many modern bands still struggling to produce.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.