PROGETTO T.I.'A.

This is the fourth album by Italian band Imagin'aria, but is the first that I have heard from them. According to what I have been reading on the web the previous releases have been symphonic hard rock with some prog influences ? but if that is the case then the band have totally turned that around as while there are some undoubted hard rock influences, especially with the guitars, this is now much more of a prog album that has been influenced by PFM, Eloy and Floyd. Apparently this is a concept album, based on a science fiction story about constellations, planets and the close relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. But, it is all sung in Italian so I don't really have any idea as to what is going on. The start of the booklet contains two pages of text so I presume that this gives the background to what is going on, but as that too is in Italian I am none the wiser.

Musically this is an album that covers a lot of bases, with gentle almost folky music giving way something that is more powerful. The vocals are very good, and it is strange to note that this is a standard rock line-up with singer, two guitarists, bass and drums with no keyboard player in sight (the sounds that are used are apparently triggered by the guitars). The more I have played this album the more I have got out of it, and musically it is very good indeed. If this had been sung in English then I am sure that we would be reading a lot more about it as this is a very positive work indeed. If you enjoy your prog European and don't mind the language difficulty then this is worth seeking out. www.maracash.com