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A journey through the Italianprog scene |
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andrea 
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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 Posted: January 30 2011 at 14:22 |
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HIDDEN MEMORIES
TENEBRAE are an interesting dark art-rock band from Genova. Their self produced full length debut album, Memorie nascoste (Hidden Memories) was released in 2010. You can listen to the complete album in streaming, just click HERE.
More info about the band:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: February 06 2011 at 11:22 |
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MUSEO ROSENBACH, A NEW COME BACK?
On the last issue of the italian music magazine Musica Leggera there’s a long interview with Giancarlo Golzi, drummer of Museo Rosenbach and of Matia Bazar. In the interview he told that he’s working with Alberto Moreno on a brand-new Museo Rosenbach’s album...
More info about Museo Rosenbach:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: February 10 2011 at 09:00 |
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ANOTHER COME BACK!
Il Rovescio della Medaglia, one of the historic Italian progressive rock bands of the early seventies, have just released a brand new album titled “Microstorie”. A preview of this new work is available on their official website, just click HERE. You can also listen to it in streaing, click HERE
More info:
Edited by andrea - February 10 2011 at 09:22 |
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: February 12 2011 at 13:52 |
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FROM LOMBARDIA...
The REDZEN come from Milano (see post #1 on this blog). They have just released a debut album on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records...
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: February 17 2011 at 09:12 |
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HARD PROG FROM LOMBARDIA
Three bands from Lecco...
LAEDERBRAUN: You can listen their debut album and download it legally for free by clicking HERE. If you like it you can purchase it from HERE.
More info:
DROPSHARD: after two demos they have just released their debut album, Anywhere But Home, a long suite in eight movements...
More info:
DRIVHELL: They have been active since 1997. Their last album, A Journey as a Life is a concept work freely inspired by the novel Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino...
More info:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: February 27 2011 at 11:40 |
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NEO PROG FROM FRIULI
LINEANAZCA come from Cervignano del Friuli. They have just released a self produced
album, Eldorado, available on the main digital stores.
You can listen to the complete album in streaming by clicking HERE
 More info about the band:
Edited by andrea - February 27 2011 at 11:41 |
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: March 13 2011 at 15:19 |
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AVANT-FOLK BLOWING FROM NORTH EAST
ENSEMBLE HAVADIÀ was a short-lived project closely related to Stormy Six’s label L’Orchestra.
Ensemble Havadià’s founder member, composer and guitarist Alfredo Lacosegliaz is still active with a solo career and a new project called Alfredo Lacosegliaz Patchwork Ensemble, based in Trieste.
It should be of interest for prog folk lovers... In 2010 they released an album called Pan duro. Their last album has just been released... Click HERE
Edited by andrea - March 19 2011 at 09:09 |
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: March 19 2011 at 09:11 |
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EXPERIMENTAL PROG FROM EMILIA
MOORDER are the brainchild of guitarist and composer Alessandro Lamborghini and are based in Bologna. They have released an eponymous instrumental album where they boldly blend progressive rock, jazz and many other influences. You can listen to it in streaming, just click HERE
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: March 26 2011 at 10:13 |
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MORE PROG FROM THE ETERNAL CITY
Fausto Bisantis is a keyboardist and composer whose work could be of interest for Italian prog lovers... You can find his last work HERE
More info:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: April 07 2011 at 06:09 |
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FOLK ROCK FROM LE MARCHE
Oloferne are an Italian band from Chiaravalle, in the Province of Ancona. The line up features Alessandro Piccioni (vocals, bass, flute), Giacomo Medici (vocals, guitar, percussion), Giuseppe Cardamone (violin), Gianluca Agostinelli (guitars), Stefano Procaccini (guitars, bass) and Marco Medici (drums, percussion). They started their musical project in 1999 trying to blend different influences ranging from medieval atmospheres to folk rock and progressive. In 2001 they recorded an eponymous debut album that was released and distributed by the independent label Ethnoworld/Venus in 2003. Since then they have been alternating concerts and activities for theatre maturing a very good experience on stage. In December 2004 they released a second album that obtained a very positive feed-back by critics and media, “Le Parole del Vento”, self-produced and featuring collaborations with Gastone Pietrucci (La Macina) and Sandro Severini (Gang).
After an intense activity on stage, in 2008 they finally released a third self-produced album “Segno d'acqua” which in my opinion is their best so far...
The opener “L’argonauta” (The Argonaut) is a kind of musical travelogue on the wings of poetry, full of toasts and fragrances, where echoes of Latin America are mixed with a suggestive Mittel-European flavour, an electric tango featuring Gypsy violin counterpoints...
The following track “Volver” (Back) is in the same vein and features a lively rhythm and swirling flute passages... “I run away and I’m distracted by voices coming from the south... Don’t be afraid, fight with the wind if it wears you out...”.
Next comes “L’amore della salamandra” (The love of the salamander), a piece full of sensuality where the sexual act is celebrated like an old ancestral ritual by a beautiful witch... “It’s two minutes to 3 a.m. / I’ve already set everything for you and me / There’s a fertile moon, salamanders are breeding / Hot stuff is running into the veins...”.
“La Piedra del Paranà” (The stone from Paranà) is another good track. It begins softly and the mood is dreamy, then violin and flute lead to a lively dance where dreams can sail across the ocean and you can breath the clouds while melancholy and whispers flow away... “When my body will become of water / Death will die and I’ll be the stone of Paranà...”.
“La preghiera del marinaio” (The sailor’s prayer) and “A largo di Punta Stilo” (Off Punta Stilo) are linked together and form a mini suite about a naval accident that happened on March 22, 1965 near Punta Stilo, on the sea off the coast of Calabria. During a military exercise two ships of the Italian navy, the frigate Castore and another ship named Etna (like the volcano), collided and four sailors died. This piece is dedicated to the victims: Aristide Duse, Vittorio Celli, Domenico Franzese and Franco Pardini... “What’s up? What are these waves? Where is Aristide? / It’s the end, I’m drowning, it’s night... Domenico is not with me / The water is coming in too fast / Virgin Mary, help me!...”. There’s surprise but soon the rage against an incompetent captain takes over, there’s anguish and fear... “Captain, my captain, where are you? Maybe you’re already sleeping below deck / I hope that the sea will cover you as well... In a moment I understood how salted is the sea / It’s the mirror of those stars that you won’t see upon me...”.
“Controcanto” (Counter-singing) is a powerful ballad challenging the fate and the wind with its strong melodic lines... It’s about a song that soars against the wind in a warm night where the heart is open and makes you feel master of your destiny... “You look for the moon... You look for the fortune / But the wheel is spinning fast and it will never stop...”.
“Byzantium” and “Oggi i pensieri sono alberi” (Today the thoughts are trees) form another mini suite. It begins by slow and hypnotic bass lines while evocative sounds in the background draw a mysterious Oriental atmosphere... “Today the thoughts are like trees / Thanks to the sun there’s more shade for me / I seem free among my Britons dreams / But from trunks to obstacles the step is short...”. Then rhythm takes off and thoughts become flying leaves, voices of a choir that mixed together are going out of tune... “Please do not sing, leave me alone...”. This track features the jazz-musician Leonardo Sbaffi as a special guest on saxophone who adds a touch of colour.
“Fa# come Fard” (F# as blush) is a lively ballad that was already present on Oloferne’s debut album. Here we find a new arrangement with violin and flute in the forefront. The piece is dedicated to Astarte, the goddess of music... “If the hell does exist / It’s just an impression or a moment...”.
Last track “Il segno d’acqua” (Water sign) is another beautiful acoustic ballad. It’s about the wish to set off on a journey across the sea running after the dreams. But this wish is counter-balanced by the fear of the waves... “My tattooed anchors are sinking into the wine / Today I missed one more time the train leading to my destiny...”. After a pause appears, as a ghost track, a short recitative passage, a tribute to Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick” that concludes this album dedicated to water.
Well, on the whole this is a very good work!
More info:
Edited by andrea - April 07 2011 at 06:11 |
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andrea
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: April 11 2011 at 11:21 |
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ASSENZIO, FROM PUGLIA
Assenzio come from Bari and began life in 2004. The line up features Gigi Lorusso (guitar), Emanuele Manzo (bass), Lino Paglionico (vocals and flute), Fabio Prota (keyboards) and Cristiano Valente (drums). Their influences range from classic Italian progressive rock bands like PFM, BMS and Area to newer and heavier acts. Assenzio’s debut album, the self-produced “’Avon”, was released in 2005 and is an interesting conceptual work inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins. Although it was completely recorded and mixed in the band’s home studio, the sound quality is very good and it’s really worth listening to...
The opener “Antitesi” (Antithesis) begins softly and introduces the “concept”. Acoustic guitar and flute set a dreamy atmosphere where in a distorted reality vices and virtues are fighting against each other... “I dare fancying inside of me a world full of innocent perversities / I build with my mind an ageless place... An unfair and charming antithesis of opposite egos is attracting me...”.
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
“Primo cherubino” (First Cherub), deals with pride. It starts with a percussive and dark beating, then the electric guitar starts pulsing too... Music flows with many changes of rhythm while vocals draw the image of a vain king, a king of the night who comes to life at dusk like a vampire with the look of Tony Manero / John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever... “I live in the space of one night / I die and arise only for those who look no one but me / My light shines high and irradiates my majesty like a lighthouse... You despise my vanity, subdued by your lack of qualities... My hegemony is absolute, it has no limits / I’m your king!”.
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
Next comes “Beni Shahih”, a track about greed. The incipit is powerful and full of energy, then rhythm begins to swing while vocals interpret a strange character who cuddles his little shining and clinking creatures... Try to think to Scrooge McDuck swimming across his money or to Gollum dancing madly on the edge of the abyss holding “His Precious” ring... “I want everything for me / I do not have anyone anymore / I hold tight my treasure to my chest / It’s like a soft pillow for me / It’s only mine and I want more...”. The greedy character hates other people, they are like threatening dark enemies who judge his words and his actions, he feels their inquisitive eyes upon him... “Eyes that look at me / Eyes that stare at me / Eyes that judge me / Eyes that hate me... Leave me alone!”. Well, a great theatrical interpretation!
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
“Passione e vizio” (Passion and vice) is about lust. A piano solo sets the atmosphere... Imagine a man lying in an opulent ocean of shining gold, surrounded by wonderful women, indifferent to what happens outside his “shell”... “Passion and vice rule with overwhelming force the senses never saturated with lust / You are surrounded by the most charming creatures on Earth who delight your senses / You have fun without worrying about the storm...”. The music is complex and features every now and again spicy Oriental atmospheres and a peculiar guitar Latin sound à la Santana...
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
“Tempesta” (Storm) is about wrath. It starts with aggressive electric guitar riffs and pulsing bass lines... “A red sky is burning tormented by rage / Threatening blows the wind of resentment / The clouds on the horizon relish the duel... The roar of the storm spreads / The thunder and lightning rape the sky... And anger can rule without mercy...”. Music and words depict wrath in a very colourful and effective way... “My eyes reflect the clouds / They are red like the sky that shouts blood... My scream explodes, it needs to resound... I seek relief in broken glasses...”. Well, an epic rage for an ordinary story of hooliganism!
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
“Avida anima” (Greedy soul) is about gluttony. Here the over-indulgence and over consumption of food, drink and other intoxicants is a way to fill the infinite emptiness of a weak soul, a way to compensate the lack of values that could make a man fragile and mean. On a funky rhythm vocals interpret the languid madness of a man who changes his dreams into desires and the desires into greediness... “In every whim there’s happiness... My corrupted belly has made my world... I cured the melancholy with the pleasure of the palate / And face to face with the mirror of my identity / I fill the void of my greedy soul with the frenzy of possession, with gluttony...”.
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
“Parassita” (Parasite) is about envy. Music goes through many changes of mood and rhythm while lyrics compare envy to a parasite that can hide under your skin and can conceal its looks behind a black veil... “The hypocritical parasite smiles / Meanwhile it injects its poison / It grows slowly, hidden...”. You can’t see it, you can’t see the pain of the envious people in the background who would like take your place in limelight... “How can’t you see my pain? / Maybe am I invisible to your eyes? / You’re always there in the front, unattainable / I want to be you!”.
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
Last track “L’oppio degli ignavi” (The opium of the sloth) is about sloth. It begins softly, just a piano introduction then vocals soar slowly... “Leaden desert, wrap me in an embrace of dynamic inertia / Nothingness is my friend, I let me live by...”. Music flows like the current of a raging river and leads you toward a fall. Poverty and want are lurking in the mud like a robber or an armed man while drugs addiction and escape from responsibilities drive you in the eddies of the Styx. Eventually you find yourself prisoner of your restless ego, floating aimlessly toward the vortex of oblivion... A great track and a perfect conclusion for a very good album!
You can listen to this track and legally download it, just click HERE
By the way, Assenzio’s members are also involved in some side projects like La Variante Chevac (Paglionico), U’Papun (Lorusso and Valente), Suoni Mudù (Lorusso and Manzo) and Mister Wilson (Prota). Gigi Lorusso is a teacher of sound recording techniques as well...
MORE INFO:
Assenzio
La Variante Chevac
U’Papun
Suoni Mudù
Mister Wilson
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andrea
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: April 13 2011 at 14:18 |
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: April 25 2011 at 04:27 |
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MORE PROG FROM EMILIA
SLIDE A come from Parma and were formed in 2003. After seven years of hard work they released a self produced debut album, Phonoshock. Their sound is modern and aggressive but in their music you can also feel the influence of Italianprog bands like Osanna... In fact, “In un vecchio cieco” from their album is an Osanna’s cover!
You can legally download some tracks from HERE
More info:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: May 05 2011 at 08:48 |
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FOLLOWING THE MASTER’S VOICE
In the early eighties Franco Battiato turned to pop and reached the top charts. His album La voce del padrone was an absolute hit!
In 2011 Fabio Zuffanti (see page 1 - post #1 on this blog) seems to follow Battiato’s tracks on the paths of pop - although with a great sense of humour - releasing an album called “La foce del ladrone”.
You can listen to the album in streaming by clicking HERE
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andrea
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Posted: May 05 2011 at 11:51 |
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CELESTIAL ORCHESTRAS
ORCHESTRE CELESTI, is the brainchild of keyboardist and composer Federico Fantacone (see page 1 post #1). This is a video from the first album...
A new album has just been released and you can legally downloaded it for free. The title is Transition Power...
Have a try! Click HERE
By the way, on progarchives you can find an interview with the artist, click HERE
More info:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: May 10 2011 at 08:36 |
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MORE PROG FROM GENOVA
LA COSCIENZA DI ZENO is an Italian prog band that was formed in Genova in 2007 by some experienced musicians coming from different experiences. After some troubles and line up changes they are going to release an interesting debut album on the independent label Mellow Records. The present line up features Alessio Calandriello (Narrow Pass) - vocals and keyboards; Gabriele Guidi Colombi (Trama, Narrow Pass, Armalite, Il Tempio delle Clessidre) - bass; Andrea Orlando (Malombra) - drums and percussion; Stefano Agnini (Vico dell’Amor Perfetto) - keyboards, Davide Serpico (Viola Smoke) - electric and acoustic guitar; and Andrea Lotti - keyboards, acoustic guitar.
Here you can listen to some pieces from the upcoming album...
More info:
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: May 11 2011 at 08:24 |
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andrea
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Posted: May 18 2011 at 14:49 |
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DARK PROG FROM THE PAST...
JACULA are back! In 2011 they have released a new album, Pre Viam, on the independent label Black Widow Records...
You can listen to the complete album in streaming, just click HERE
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andrea
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Posted: May 25 2011 at 07:36 |
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ANOTHER INTERESTING DEBUT ALBUM!
GRAN TORINO come from Verona (see post #1 on this blog). In April 2011 they released an interesting debut album titled grantorinoProg on the independent label Galileo Records.
You can listen to the complete album in streaming by clicking HERE
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andrea
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Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064 |
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Posted: June 01 2011 at 14:03 |
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THE RETURN OF THE TRAINS...
I TRENI ALL'ALBA (see post # 1 on this blog) have just released a new album titled 2011 A.D. on the independent label INRI. You can listen to it in streaming by clicking HERE
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