EXEDRA

— First review of this album —

Exedra came to life in Taranto in 2005 on the initiative of Giuseppe Prete and Andrea Rapisardo with the aim of mixing classic prog from the seventies with modern sounds and prog metal. After some line up changes and many years of hard work, in 2012 they self-produced and self-released an interesting debut album entitled "Apeiron" with a line up featuring Giuseppe Prete (vocals, acoustic guitars), Marco Memmola (piano, keyboards), Luca Orlando (bass), Simone Basile (guitars) and Andrea Rapisardo (drums). It's a complex conceptual work about the eternal cycle of life (birth ? death ? rebirth) and the title refers to an Ancient Greek word meaning boundless or infinite. The art work by Giusppe Prete tries to give an idea of the subject matter...

The powerful opener "Fenice" (Phoenix) describes in music and words the need to recover from the misfortunes of life. The title refers to the mythical bird that cyclically regenerates by arising from its ashes that here is just a metaphor to tell about a stubborn will to overcome difficulties. Rage might flow like lava burning down your hopes but pride keeps you alive and for every broken dream you'll rise again from the extinguished fire. Never surrender!

The reflective "Siddharta" starts softly, then the music and lyrics conjure up a surreal landscape out of time. Like Siddharta you sit on the banks of an eternal river that carries away questions about the meaning of life and troubles. Some calm passages could recall Pink Floyd... Then it's the turn of the dreamy "Crisalide" (Chrysalis) that describes the impulse to fly higher, following your dreams, like a butterfly that rises from a chrysalis of tears.

The long, evocative "Venga il tuo regno" (Thy Kingdom Come) is a suite divided into five parts: "Sogni vividi" (Vivid dreams), "In un attimo" (In a while), "Macerie" (Ruins), "Siamo noi" (It's us) and "Verso il sole" (Towards the sun). It tells of dreams, virtual reality, false truths preached through the media in a crumbling world falling down because of man's greediness, error after error, horror after horror... What's the matter? Where is God? You need to reach the bottom of the ravine to climb up again...

The melancholic, reflective "Siamo qui" (Here we are) with its cutting lights and inner darkness fades into the following "Come il vento" (Like the wind), a nervous piece about the ravages of time on human nature, then the long title track closes the album. "Apeiron" is a complex suite divided into seven parts: "Overture", "Intorno a me" (Around me), "Le ali della farfalla" (The wings of the butterfly), Naufragio (Wreck), "Oceano di realtà" (Ocean of Reality), "Samsara" and "Io vivrò" (I will live). The music and lyrics unfold going through many changes of atmosphere and mood following the dark shadows of an unavoidable fate, in search for a hidden harmony lost between order and disorder, trying to escape an inner wreck in an ocean of doubts where hazard and destiny play among the many threads of reality?

On the whole, a good work even if the concept, to be honest, is not always clear. Have a try!