SECRET PASSAGE

Well, let's take a walk on fleecy clouds.

Musea label has shot an wonderful arrow named CAGE from Italy. They started off in Carrara in 1987 and played lots of gigs, released some singles and an album. In 2004 they entered into a contract with Musea and this Secret Passage is their second album in Musea. Musea says this album as a superb work and it should make sense for me.

From Movements, the first track CAGE's wonderful story starts. Full of complexity and mystery, and full of kindness are in the song. Yes, it hears like flying over the rainbow or walking on the clouds for me. The Scream has a melancholic rock flavour voice sound. Chorus with some effect is like a dreamy drama and very impressive. I consider this song can put a high point on the first half. Get relaxed a bit. Bitter Honey is, for us, not bitter but sweet and leisurely. All instrumentals can sound easygoing, and can make me quiet...in spite of their progressiveness. Good sound...Marta's guitar solo. Simple refrain can take us into their cage. :-P Secret Passage is the second highlight on another half with beautiful piano solo and complex guitar and rhythm section. Although it's an instrumental track without any voice, aggressively it should talk to us...like a cute girl. Augusto's lyrical voice can be striking in the song Dreams Like Broken Glass. Feel the song be very fragile and very brilliant... Various faces (rhythmical, funky, strict and plaintive) are in Time To Go Back Home. We all be back to our CAGE with the fine song. At the last live track M31, we can fully hear their strong and strict play. Oh, my God...forgotten breathing.

Let me say the phrase; CAGE is KALEIDOSCOPE from Italy.

Opening and closing this second effort by Italian act Cage are some intriguing efforts blending jazz-tinged elements with symphonic passages, and especially on the former this makes for a very interesting experience. A real high class number, of the kind that will sway many listeners.

In between these efforts 6 less original ones reside though. By no means weak efforts, with one exception they are actually both pleasant and fascinating, but exploring a stylistic expression that will be highly familiar for many prog fans: Vintage inspired symphonic prog. And in this case highly resembling the more atmospheric material produced by Genesis in the mid 70's. Jazz-tinged bass and at times jazz-tinged piano patterns does add some original touches to these ventures, but the similarities to Genesis are strong.

Personally I find this effort to be pretty charming though, the tunes well made and well performed - with Time to Go Back Home the noteable exception in my personal opinion. One to check out for fans of 70's symphonic prog in general and Genesis in particular.

I'll paraphrase Damo, Well, let's take a WAKE, because this album was with what I get up today. And it's a pleasant one, when listening in the morning, where no death metal is allowed (nor any other hard styles). Actually, being RPI by origin, Jazz Prog by soul and Symphonic by heart. And these guitar solos sounds quite jazzy to me too, not with noticeable odd time signatures, but odd melodies. At times. But what's the most important thing here, I like it & I hear there prog elements (like Ferum, Aurum you know, elements). Last song is simply blend of previous ones. Not copy, but more like result of meaning, why this album exists. Simply the best song here.

4(-), because even I have to agree that these songs are sometimes weak.

With a contract secured by the Musea management Cage were ready to make some noise heading for their first true studio album with totally new material, as the previous one was a collection of songs through a period of time.The band recruited singer Augusto Morelli and keyboardist Alessandro Bugliani composed all the songs for the upcoming ''Secret passage''.The album was released in 2008.

In this new album Cage added a strong jazzy flavor in the guitar parts, which now alternate between CAMEL-like smooth melodies and more virtuosic workouts akin to MR. SIRIUS and ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, but the general style is still grounded in symphonic territories with evident GENESIS influences.Actually they are now somewhere between the style of ODYSSICE and CITIZEN CAIN, trying to fit the symphonic lines of GENESIS with more guitar-based moves.Despite the presence of two keyboardists the album is nicely balanced with both guitars and keyboards in the forefront and an obvious tendency towards melodious textures and romantic arrangements full of pleasant colors.Morelli and his very PETER GABRIEL-esque vocal vibe along with the delivery of elaborate, lush compositions are another reason for the apparent GENESIS comparisons.Cage though are far from a clone.The presence of an impressive, Fusion-based guitar energy and the somewhat more nervous use of synthesizers are certainly personal elements.The atmosphere is always consistent and compelling with also some pastoral acoustic passages and lots of piano interludes as well as long, instrumental themes with mellow interplays.

Unfortunately the lack of recent activity and the absence of the band on the most well-known social web pages makes another work rather doubtless.

''Secret passages'' is among these rare albums, which combine the melodious style of Symphonic Rock with the edge of light guitar Fusion and deserves a wider recognition.Recommended.

This Italian band is rooted in 1987, soon they took part in several shows, festivals and competitions in cities like Sienna, Rome and Milan. In 1992 Cage got a contract from the label Toast in Torino and in the same year they released the single View. A year later Cage released their first album entitled The Feebleminded Man. In 1994 Cage appeared on the Italian TV with a video clip but later that year several members decided to work on their own musical ideas. However, in 2000 they joined again and devoted themselves to a new project, to be heard on the demo that Cage recorded in March 2001. Cage appeared on the satellite channel Rock TV and in 2003 the band recorded the CD entitled 87-94. It contains 6 very melodic, pleasant and alternating songs (recorded between 1987 and 1994) with a lot of tension between between the mellow parts with Grand piano and the more fiery and bombastic parts with harder-edged guitarwork. This is tastefully layered with duo-keyboard play (organ, piano, Mellotron, synthesizers). Since that promising album we had to wait 5 years until Musea released this second CD entitled Secret Passage.

On Secret Passage the six-piece band Cage features dual-keyboardplay and a guest-musician on flute in one track. Three songs are recorded in 2007, four in 2008 and one is a live track 'some years ago, somewhere' ... as the bands writes in the booklet.

I am impressed by the variety in the 8 compositions, the skills of the musicians and the awesome interplay (The Scream as the best example). In comparison with their previous effort entitled 87/94, Cage delivers a more jazzrock-oriented sound like :

Movements : delicate fretless bass work.

Bitter Honey : flashy synthesizer solo and harder-edged guitar solo.

Marta : subtle volume pedal guitar, sparkling piano and a strong build-up with exciting interplay between guitar and organ.

Time To Go Back Home : great dynamic atmosphere in the end.

M31 : an exciting guitarsolo with strong build-up and omnipresent electric piano work).

Remarkably: the titletrack is a solo piece on classical guitar with hints from Steve Hackett and in The Scream the vocals are mighty close to The Watch's singer Simone Rossetti.

In my opinion Cage has made a captivating blend of Classic Prog and jazzrock, more mature and elaborate thanever before!

My rating: 3,5 star.

As a long time follower and collector of Italian Prog the forthcoming weeks I will take a look on the Italian Prog between 2008 and 2014 (from Filoritmia and Minstrel to Moongarden and VIII Strada, to name a few) and publish my reviews in series of three, from A to Z.