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ATLANTIDE

Heavy Prog • Italy


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Atlantide biography
Like their contemporaries HERO, ATLANTIDE was an all-Italian band active in Germany in the Seventies. Its four members, the Sanseverino brothers (Mimmo, Matteo, Leonardo and Mario), originally came from Cirigliano, a town in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. They already used to play together as a band before their move to Rottweil (Germany) in 1973, where they still live (though one of the brothers, Leonardo, died in 2006).

In their new country ATLANTIDE engaged in a lively concert activity, mainly as a support act to local bands, such as THE SCORPIONS, and gained critical acclaim from the press. However, their only, self-produced album, "Francesco ti ricordi" (1976), released exclusively in Germany, had very little commercial success (though it seems to have been printed in relative large quantities). It is a good heavy progressive rock album, strongly influenced by the likes of DEEP PURPLE, featuring six tracks one of which, "Quando la luna", is over 11 minutes long.

Raffaella Berry (Raff)

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2.76 | 24 ratings
Francesco ti ricordi
1976

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ATLANTIDE Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Francesco ti ricordi by ATLANTIDE album cover Studio Album, 1976
2.76 | 24 ratings

BUY
Francesco ti ricordi
Atlantide Heavy Prog

Review by siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

3 stars ATLANTIDE was a rather unusual Italian progressive rock band of the 1970s in a few ways. Firstly the band which featured the four brothers Mimmo Sanseverino (guitar, vocals), Mario Sanseverino (bass), Leonardo Sanseverino (organ, keyboards) and Matteo Sanseverino (drums) was formed in 1972 in the small ancient village of Cirigliano, Italy which is located to the far south but the following year in 1973 the members mysteriously picked up and relocated to the town of Rottweil, Germany where they spent the next few years playing with bands like Message, Atlantis and the Scorpions and garnered favorable reviews and interest however the band wouldn't release its one and only album FRANCESCO TI RICORDI until 1976 which ironically saw the one and only album of the French band of the same name released.

Despite having moved to Germany the band continued to perform and record in the Italian language making this a very unusual band indeed. The band was only slightly on the progressive side focusing much more on an organ driven style of hard rock not unlike Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster or Germany's own Birth Control however Mimmo Sanseverinno's vocal style was right out of the Italian prog playbook with competent passion lyrical deliveries yet not really drawing any obvious comparisons. The band featured a heavy acid rock fuzz guitar sound and a thundering bass and drum rhythmic drive. In many ways the album was a bit achronistic sounding more like the early proto-prog heavy psych that was popular during the 1970-71 timeline but considering many of the tracks were written over the course of several years it's not surprising the band retained its earliest stylistic approach.

The album was fairly typical as it featured six tracks at 40 1/2 minutes with predominant focus on standard hard rock compositions that featured scattered progressive elements scattered about with certain tracks like "Quando La Luna" attaining a longer playing time and moments of varied progressive time signature changes and more intricate motifs inserted between the standard verse / chorus / bridge normalcy of the hard rock standard. Despite a well played album that adds a hefty dose of satisfying guitar fuzz as well as a prominent exposure opening for some of the top bands of the German scene, ATLANTIDE's one and only album failed to sell at all with most of the albums being sold at live performances. Despite the relative obscurity the album has found two reissues. One on CD in 1994 and then a second vinyl release in 2014 as popularity for all things 70s prog has exploded worldwide.

Overall this is a very pleasant slice of Italian hard rock with a few prog leanings that unfortunately didn't deliver enough originality or diversity to the tracks to really stand out amongst the multitude of hard rock and prog acts of the era. More notable for its unique swap of nations status and for sticking to the Italian language playbook while residing in Germany than for the music itself but nevertheless the tracks are melodic and beautifully performed with all the musicians getting the job done quite well. The main problem is that the songwriting while decent wasn't really outstanding enough to really warrant this band as any kind of essential element to either the hard rock scene or even the prog lite universe for that matter. A mere footnote in the history of Italian prog but not an un pleasant one at all. Had the band stuck it out and developed a more dynamic charisma then perhaps it would've gone further. Amazingly none of the members ever left Germany.

 Francesco ti ricordi by ATLANTIDE album cover Studio Album, 1976
2.76 | 24 ratings

BUY
Francesco ti ricordi
Atlantide Heavy Prog

Review by Tarcisio Moura
Prog Reviewer

2 stars Very interesting: an italian band, formed by four brothers, based in Germany during the 70´s. Although the style here is heavy prog in the vein of Deep Purple and Atomic Rooster, they sing in italian, which, contrary to their symphonic counterparts in their homeland, does not really fit well for the style. So much so that the only one that it does seem to annoy a little less is the slow paced parts of Quando La Luna. Besides, the lead vocals were recorded way too loud for my taste. Like those aforementioned bands, there´s a lot of Hammond runs, a strong rhythm section and lots of guitar solos.

Unfortunatly the songwriting is not that great and the guitar solos are definitly boring (the guitarrist is always using the same fuzz box for all the tracks, with very few variations). The keyboards could be explored a little more too. I heard they had a good reputation as a live band in Germany (opening for acts such as Scorpions), but Francesco Ti Ricordi is not a great debut. The production is ok, although not espetacular. Maybe they needed a real good, professional producer to help them out with more creative arrangements, more instrumental variety and help recording the vocals in a different way. Anyway, this was only their first efford, and I believe that with some little more experience and time Atlantide could come out with something really outstanding. Unfortunalty they never recorded a follow up and we´ll probably never know their real potential.

Conclusion: this is more a curio than anything else. No track really stands and the music is way too commonplace to recommend it to anyone but collectors and hardcore fans of the style. Even then, anyone interested should listen before buying this CD.

Rating: something between 1.5 and 2 stars.

Thanks to raff for the artist addition.

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