ACROTERIUS

2005 saw Italian proggers The Rebus, three years on from their punchy late 60's/early 70's Osanna/New Trolls/Delirium influenced debut, release their follow-up `Acroterius'. While it still showed some sounds indebted to those artists and eras mentioned above, it also displayed the band starting to move towards more of their own style, finding their feet and really beginning to experiment. Mainman Luca Sterle and the same line-up from the previous album here present a nice mix of melodic tracks (the vocal pieces a mix of gruff Italian and heavily accented English this time) with dynamic and finely executed instrumental passages, and that reckless and genuine Italian fire emerges constantly throughout.

The same energy from the debut album is thankfully still present right from the start with `Il Vecchio E Il Cane', quite a wild piece with lots of different sounds. The band works in an upbeat vocal, delirious heavy blasts around hearty acoustic guitar bursts, melodious folky flute and lurking bass that weaves and attacks. `The Rebel' has more cheerful vocals, purposeful driving guitars and an infectious beat. With it's gentle chimes over nighttime outdoor ambience, instrumental `Tantric Meditations' (perhaps a fleeting attempt at an Ozric Tentacles-type piece?!) is a brief introduction to `Avatara', a raucous and dirty grooving bluesy guitar number with plenty of wailing soloing and some Delirium-styled rough saxophone from Luca with a stirring vocal in the finale.

Instrumental `A Gentleman's Song' is a charming Jethro Tull folk ditty with fiery bursts of acoustic flare, madrigal flute and the loveliest scratchy Mellotron over regal fanfare. The English sung `Three Women Blues' stomps through light jazzy piano with a foot-tapping catchy beat. Guitar player Valerio Colella's clarinet cuts through the mix of `La Battaglia...' a spiky energetic rocker with middle-eastern tones and a churning reggae quality with manic rapid-fire vocal run-throughs and thick darting bass. Instrumental album closer `Metamorphosys' tears through stomping drum tension, warping electronics and howling electric guitar. The thick bass guitar and darting flute take on a truly maddening quality, and it's great to hear the band end on this addictive blast of noise!

By the time 2011 came around, the band had shifted line-ups and changed their name to Il Fauno di Marmo, and the adventurous and exciting sounds that started to emerge here became more fully realised and better developed, culminating in the superb `Canti, Racconti e Battaglie' in 2013. Comparing this album to both the previous Rebus self-titled album and the new Il Fauno disc reveals `Acroterius' as surely their lustiest, dirtiest and most raw sounding work, and I know many RPI fans would prefer this over cleanly produced and pristine production with any imperfections removed.

Hopefully the band are able to get `Acroterius' and the enjoyable little self-titled debut album re- released as soon as possible, as these are fine additions to any lovers of the Italian prog sound.

Three and a half stars.