MEMORIE DAL PRESENTE

After a long hiatus, Juglans Regia are back with new energies and ideas. In 2019, more than ten years after their previous album, Visioni parallele (2008), the band from Sesto Fiorentino released an interesting EP entitled Memorie dal presente (Memories from the present) with the original line up featuring Alessandro Parigi (vocals), Antonello Collini (guitar), David Carretti (drums), Lapo Martini (keyboards) and Massimiliano Dionigi (bass). After all this time their friendship is still intact and the flame of their passion burning to give form to their personal mix of hard rock, metal and prog. The evocative artwork by Sara Parigi can give you the idea of a motivated band ready to seize the moment...

The powerful opener, 'L'imperdonabile' (The unforgivable), is a kind of manifesto of the band's come back where the music and lyrics invite you to stand up facing the difficulties of life, fighting for your dreams to come true. If you fall get up, it would be a pity to give up without try hard again, unforgivable! Electric guitar riffs and keyboard waves wash out illusions and deceptions backed by a solid rhythm section...

The following 'Maschere' (Masks) alternates raging parts to lighter passages depicting a sensation of solitude and alienation: even in the middle of a crowd e person could feel absent and distant from reality, other people pass by hiding themselves behind appearances, time runs out... But the music you love can still stir your emotions and set you free from the chains of an ordinary life. All you have to do is open the doors and follow the harmonic tracks in the air you breathe...

Next comes 'Primo istinto' (First instinct), my favourite track on this album. It begins softly by a delicate piano passage and a soaring electric guitar solo, the mood is dreamy but as the vocals come in the dream turns into a nightmare, the rhythm rises, the atmosphere becomes dark and disquieting... The cryptic lyrics evoke something threatening coming up to the surface from under your skin, the fear of the dark and of the unknown, you catch a strange look in the people staring at you, then there's an explosion as your soul separates from the body...

'Le virgole del tempo' (The commas of time) closes the album with bursts of energy and some reflective moments. The music and lyrics evoke nocturnal landscapes where rain, fog and darkness fall down covering unavoidable secrets and vain ambitions, pushing you to reflection. Eventually the border between dreams and reality melts under the thundering sky of this restless, mysterious night...

On the whole, a very good work. Welcome back Juglans Regia, don't give up!