MACROSCREAM

Sunny days!

A celebration of being alive. The music on this diverse, modern work from fine Rome-based Macroscream is like walking the park on a sunny day. The diversions and distractions are everywhere and yet completely pleasant. Roller bladers zooming by, birds cruising this way and that, food vendors calling out, and beautiful people smiling.

MacroScream combine defined elements of Crossover, Folk, Fusion, Avant, RPI, (and thus) Eclectic, I can hear bits of Area, Gentle Giant, and Tull, but they are absolutely updated with today's production values and with good melodic sensibilities. I love the constantly changing, cinematic "scenes" playing out and the penchant for unexpected harmonies and strings here and there, such little details really bring a richness. Flutes, Tablas, violins, Mellotron, Hammond, sound effects, piano, and more---so many sounds dropping to support the standard rock instrumentation, which strives for imaginative jamming and even some funkiness. Six fully fleshed out vignettes into a sound world colorful and inventive, old yet new, friendly and yet sometimes dissonant...or at least uninhibited. Having so many ingredients could be a disaster in the hands of a lesser band but here the compositions feel natural and developed.

This is music for which words fail. I urge you to simply put on your headphones and listen. It's an album that can make you feel high and one of my favorites of this year.

AltrOck Productions' Fading Records is releasing this new collection of quirky prog--complex 'show tunes' that float somewhere in the universe of GENTLE GIANT, KHATSATURJAN and HUMBLE GRUMBLE. A group of accomplished musicians and adventurous composers from Italy, Macroscream supports a large lineup of musicians and guest artists--no less than six in the main lineup with a virtual army of session artists. Five star songs: 2. "Then It Goes Away" (6:13) and 3. "Unquiet" (8:04).

Four star songs: 5. "Goliath" (10:51)

Three star songs: 1. "Mr.Why" (12:52); 4. "The Flying Giampy" (8:56), and; 6. "Impenetrable Oak Bark" (12:15).

3.5 stars; not for everyone but definitely entertaining and ambitious--and worth checking out for your selves. "Macroscream" is listenable but often too quirky and quick to twist and turn for my attention span. The band has room to grow.