CATAFALCHI DEL CYBER

What a pity that the singer at some moments sound like "John Wetton who has caught a cold", because instrumentally this band has a lot to offer in the alternating and varied compositions, from dreamy to fluent rhythms and bombastic eruptions. Listening to this album USA formation Holding Pattern comes to my mind, due to the fiery guitar and dynamic music.

Also interesting is the sound of the unsurpassed Mellotron, from celestial violins in Dark Degluation to breathtaking choirs in the awesome and varied final track Ipercomunismo Postaliend III (from spacey and prog to folk), what a joy for the Tron-maniacs!

This band has succeeded to deliver an interesting album (I don't consider this as Neo-Prog as PA has categorised) with lots of own musical ideas, unfortunately the music is not entirely instrumental but the mediocre vocals are not very present.

My rating: 3,5 star.

After brief twitching cut-up sound-bites, `Il Buon Caffe' launches right into a quick punishing cacophony of crashing punk noise, all pummelling drumming, mud-thick bass and a spat out shrieking vocal. It's quickly replaced by the moody `Heavy Love' (sung in English, as are all the pieces on the album), the first proper tune of the disc that in just under eight minutes moves between being a melancholic indie-rocker, later era Porcupine Tree heavy blasting, subtle electronica and grooving funk! Utilising everything from jangling guitars with occasional Marillion-like tones, tickles of Hammond organ, whirring proudly Neo Prog-flavoured synth noodling and programmed beats, Mirco Ravenoldi's shaky and uncontrolled voice also offers fleeting wisps of sweet falsetto escaping here and there. The dreamy (yet still plenty unhinged) `Ti Vengo a Prendere' mixes introspective late night jazz musings, slinking low-key beats and murmuring ruminative bass with a soaring chorus, and demented instrumental `Il Cavaliere Odia' is all doomy infernal Mellotron choirs, heavy King Crimson jazzy explorations, Gong- like honking sax ruptures and dirty funky bouncing bass spasms.

Initially another harder indie-rocker, `112' reveals a haunting Goblin-like Mellotron choir over chiming guitars finale that is impossibly lovely and oddly uplifting, and the Porcupine Tree-like `Happiness' marries a sorrowful lyric and washes of gentle synths to crushing plodding guitars (again, heavy, yet never exactly `heavy metal') and defiant soaring soloing in the second half. In keeping in line with that UK band, shorter instrumental piece `Gladia' presents soothing Mellotron over warm acoustic guitars and searing electric soloing wouldn't have sounded out of place on the recent Steven Wilson albums.

`A Tailor's Sale' (Ooh, King Crimson fans will get a sly laugh from that title!) is an infectious and quite upbeat melodic indie- rocker with a catchy chorus, but it also doesn't skimp on frequent nimble keyboard/Mellotron runs and reflective acoustic breaks. `Prima Republica' is a serene and ethereal ambient interlude that marries into the ever so slightly-off closer `Mouth Shaped Universes', with some wondrous delicate piano and proudly epic guitar soloing to finish the set.

But special mention must go to the biggest shock of the album, the ninth track `Fakoya Ltd', a full-blown hip-hop piece with two guest rap vocals delivering biting social-commentary lyrics peppered with swearing. It's actually very well crafted with a cool production, but it sounds completely out of place on the album and brings it crashing to a halt. It's likely designed to cause exactly this kind of confused reaction, but perhaps if the band still insisted on including it, the piece might have been better served as a bonus track at the end of the disc away from the main album.

Despite the one or two odd missteps and the occasionally challenging vocals that are sure to be a deal-breaker for some listeners, `Il Bis' is definitely one of the `coolest' prog-related albums of the year, the perfect antidote to `old-man prog', and it might also be one of the best kept secrets of progressive rock of 2016. It's a long-awaited but successful return from a skilled Italian group in desperate need of greater exposure and more well-deserved recognition.

Four stars.

The main core of the band is a trio of skilled musicians, probably you know some... CRISTIANO ROVERSI (Moongarden, Mangala Vallis, Bernardo Lanzetti, Submarine Silence and many others..) on Keys and Production , MATTEO BERTOLINI Basses, Guitars, Theremin and MIRCO RAVENOLDI On Vocals, Lead Guitar and Keys (Both appear in the second SUBMARINE SILENCE studio Release). They play everything, changing their roles and musical instruments song by song helped by a bunch of Special Guests here and there Also it seems that the original drummer ERSIKER ANAMAN is gone cos he appear as Special Huest only in one track. Anyway the new Drummer MATTIA SCOLFARO (Moongarden) performs very well in this absolutely not easy task

1. Violenza Gratuita

The album start with a cinematic intro, a collage of dialogues seemingly without any sense....

2. Il Buon Caffe

This is the first RP Fan Hard test i think, Imagine GORILLA BISQUITS or BLACK FLAG (Historic HC PUNK Bands from the states) playing a Punk Rock song with Mellotron and some techno drums in the end section....

3. Heavy Love

One Of the best number: This beautiful song reminds me of JEFF BUCKLEY's music that very rapidly chance in something very different between ALLAN HOLDSWORTH and GENESIS. The closing section is a Post Rock killer anthem with a bombastic bass sound. Both "Il Buon Caffè" and "Heavy Love" official videos are on YOU TUBE!

4. Ti Vengo a Prendere

They sing in English but the song titles are in italian language.....crazy men as i sayd. This is a beautiful ballad. The atmosphere could be recall some MARILLION HOGHART stuff. There's something of MICK KARN in the Fretless bass approach and the final section will take you in places that you surely will love with the beautiful guitar solo berween HOLDSWORTH and STEVE ROTHERY. RAVENOLDI's vocal range is truly remarkable.

5. Il Cavaliere Odia

An instrumental that remind me something of JOHN ZORN's NAKED CITY with plenty of Jazz and Fusion inserts. Here, the former drummer ERSIKER ANAMAN plays some really complex scores in a very "BRUFORDIAN" style. The MARCO REMONDINI (ECM Label) Sax Solo is something special!

6. 112

The band carry us in a more best known territories starting with a classic and rich symphonic prog to end up woth a YES oriented madrigal guided by beautiful 12 Strings guitars and a female Mellotron register.

7. Happiness

Space Rock and Post Rock united, a very powerfull triplet rythm ride with the usual tastefull guit Solo in it.

8. Gladio

A soft Interlude that reminds me PAT METHENY GROUP of geffen era with some preatty synth and guit solos, ethnic percussions and the singer in PEDRO AZNAR mode ON :)

9. Fakoya LTD.

Well, How can I explain you this one? It's an Hip Hop Old School track with a Rock Progressive odd-rhythm Refrain and Vocals Improvvisation close to DEMETRIO STRATOS (AREA) unique style. It's Enough?

10. A Tailor's Sale

If you're familiar with their first album, this is a classic "CdC" track with plenty of changes and moods, fusion drumming and a classic new prog crescendo that lead in a marvellous guitar acoustic and mellotron duo finale.

11. Prima Repubblica

in case you haven't yet enough of contaminations and musical genres, Ladies and gents, here's ROBERT FRIPP's Soundscapes time!

12. Mouth Shaped Universes

A melancholy closer song which frankly did not understand the lyrics but the music is something marvellous with rich keys supporting an inspired and passionate guit solo.....and the theremin played by MATTEO as a final precious frame!

What can i say at the end of the day? They are surely PROGRESSIVE

"E Adesso Facciamo I Soldi" hits the ground running then settles back when the vocals arrive. Tons of mellotron here. Bass 2 minutes in then it picks up again. Guitar before 5 minutes. "Benediktus" opens with bass as spoken sampled words and cheering come in. Drums too followed by pulsating organ before 2 minutes then synths. It picks up before 4 minutes and the vocals follow as it stays uptempo. "Dark Deglutation" is nice and heavy with so much atmosphere. Mellotron before 1 1/2 minutes. Vocals 3 minutes in. Mellotron is back late. "Ocean" opens with atmosphere then vocals and strummed guitar come in around a minute. A calm with water sounds follows then it builds with bass and lots of atmosphere. A powerful soundscape 7 minutes in.

"Carabinieri" has atmosphere galore with percussion sounds. Piano before 2 minutes. "Metanolo" has a solid base as guitar and vocals come in after 2 1/2 minutes. It picks up then we get atmosphere only before 4 minutes then the drums and guitar return. The guitar is much more aggressive here. Vocals end it. "Recinzioni" is uptempo with solid drumming and lots of depth. Vocals and mellotron 1 1/2 minutes in along with piano and lots of atmosphere. "Ipercomunismo Postalieno" is dark and atmospheric early on. It kicks in before 2 minutes with synths. Powerful stuff.

Thankyou Todd for recommending this band. Hmmm...dark with lots of atmosphere and mellotron. My kind of music.

CDC don't exactly pay homage to the rich musical heritage of their homeland although they do create a unique modern sound that's dominated by the typical Italian spirit of eclecticism. Sources close to the group have described them as anti-prog and they take the Dada movement as their model but their album is no musical representation of abstract art. Although a certain incongruity is the band's main dynamic force there is a surprising conformity to their music; while it's neither chaotic nor formless the band manage to create the illusion of spontaneous self-expression through the judicious use of cut and paste. CDC are arguably more Cafe Crimson than the Cabaret Voltaire. Among the unlikely musical combinations and whorish eclecticism of CDC the Mellotron is the one ever- present. This talismanic instrument quickly, and with no little gusto, emerges as the album's master mage, as on the opening track 'E Adesso Facciamo I Soldi' where it swaggers clumsily with the emancipated discipline of a bovine male lumbering through a crockery store.

CDC, these alumni of the absurd, also acknowledge their Catholic heritage (although musically CDC are catholic with a small 'c') and they have an interest in World War II. Whether they see mystic monks or self-harming sociopaths, the album artwork - Padre Pio holding a ghetto-blaster aloft in his stigmata palms while towering over the scene of a military parade - perhaps points to the band's intention to undermine the foundations of political, social and spiritual slavery. German flags and abstracts of Romish clergy in grotesque parrot-billed masks reinforce the cardboard cutout absurdity of the unreconstructed morons of a fascist regime. The Marinettian flourishes are also evident within the music and 'Benediktus' could be symbolic of the fall of fascism and the end of Papal Rome. It starts off with a sound sample possibly taken from a religious rally and develops into a strange two-part space canticle. The overall effect is like a demoniacal bossa nova of hysterical howls with the Weird Sisters' feline familiars fighting like cat and dog.

The synthesizer effect on 'Dark Deglutation' sounds like a supernatural cocktail of thick curling incense and squirting gyzym, then the Mellotron opens up like the relaxed knees of a pro who's fallen off the reform wagon. For a band that nurses a Dada ambition this track would seem to be propelled by the same impulse of Duchampian heads giving head that are found inside the album's gatefold. The emotional disturbance of this track is contrasted by the beautiful and calm 'Ocean' where a womb of warm wet circles gradually ripple and swell until - boom! - the guitar roars high above the Mellotron deep water like the girdler of Earth emerging from a drug-induced slumber. Worthy of mention is that CDC have gone to the trouble of enlisting help with translations and pronunciation for the English-language vocals; while the lyrics display none of the band's anarchic humour the titles reveal their predilection for neologisms and secret codes.

Whether Catafalchi Del Cyber are anti-prog, Neo-prog, Neo-Dada, or just plain and simply barking, their debut album is what the kestrel-drinking, devil-dug owning bampots in my neck of the woods call a 24-carat belter. The album breathes new life into progressive rock and despite the Dada pretensions it's not an album for culture-vultures. I'm eagerly anticipating the follow-up but because of the drummer's reported juridical difficulties the release of the band's second album will be delayed. CDC waited a while to be added to the database but the shoe is ironically on the other foot now as it's the fans who will have to be patient.

4.5 stars really.

Dense atmosphere, lush mellotron, fat Moog, nice melodies, occasional Crimsonic outbursts-- this album has it all, down to a wheel on the cover you can rotate to change the picture of who is holding up the boombox.

With stated influences and perceived sounds ranging from (chiefly, in my book) King Crimson to David Bowie to Yes to The Cardiacs to Smashing Pumpkins, this band understandably spent a good bit of time being kicked around the different PA sub-genres before settling into a home in Neo.

If I were to try to sum up their sound, it would be a very strong dose of Roversi's atmospheric works in Moongarden (although Bertolini and Ravenoldi are responsible for the composing) alternating with the frenetic energy of King Crimson (particularly in the first two songs). The decent vocals are sung in English and are frankly noncontributory, showing up only occasionally and not adding nor detracting much. The real star here is the keyboards, manned by both Roversi (named L'Imperatore on the album itself, perhaps for contractual reasons?) and Ravenoldi. The first track, E Adesso Facciamo I Soldi, is a fabulous example of lush mellotron underlying some great rhthym work, interspersed by melodic Moog runs and beautiful chords and sequences.

Their bizarre sense of humor (see Torodd's PA interview) doesn't come through in the music as much as it does on the album artwork. The music is earnest, open, and rich for the eclectic nature of its influences. Definitely one to seek out, and one of the best from 2011. Four stars.

PS if you're unfamiliar with it, look up the instrument "theremin," which shows up on the album.