All Prog From Italy Appreciation Thread

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   Since I absolutely love, adore, admire, revere, respect, fear, worship and...like this album, I'll add the review myself. You need it if you haven't already heard it!!

AREA — Crac !

Review by 

LinusW

Collaborator Italian Symphonic Prog Team

A creative high for music. And honestly, that’s where I’d like to stop. But…
Imagine the power of an explosion, the brewing frustration and uncertainty of a generation, the
freedom and joy of happiness, facing difficulties, overcoming the same difficulties – all presented
and packaged in an uncensored form of expression that grabs you, stuns you, turns you inside out and
leaves you alone on the ground, bleeding…and still asking for more! Behind these words there is an
elusive truth in hiding, because even if much of Crac! is harsh, uncompromising, virtuosic and
provocative music to the bone, it’s not those qualities that makes me so very fond and attached to
the album, but rather the pulsating emotional whirlwind and escapism you’re invited to for the all
too short thirty-eight minutes the ride lasts.
And still there really aren’t any proper attempts at reaching that goal, with aggression,
confrontation and downright collision feeling like a lot more descriptive words of the music, making
it notably harder to reflect on the emotional ingredients of the music, and even harder finding the
peace of mind required for that when listening to Area. Instead, you have to accept that you can do
nothing else than open up your mind, and just let the music surge and stream through you. Believe
me, you’ll find it cleansing, rejuvenating, absorbing and ultimately relaxing. Think of Crac! as a
musical adrenalin rush, and you might start to get the idea.
Compared to Arbeit Macht Frei it’s an album that feels more distinctly like Area, and with Area
being Area, that tells us that it’s an album that is even more nothing at all, or rather a lot of
things at the same time. Revolving around a core of fiery and restless jazz-tinged fusion with avant
overtones, it snatches ideas and trademarks from many directions, broadening the scope of the music,
both digging itself deeper down into indefinable experimentations with instrumentation, effects and
vocals as well as opening up for smoother, more mainstream structures. Gioia E Rivoluzione is
surprisingly cheerful, down-to-earth and enjoyable with its rollicking guitar and playful piano and
keys sound. Placing a fairly simple mid-tempo rocker in the midst of the dominating chaos makes it
stand out, but not in a bad way. Instead it enhances the pros of its own inherent qualities, and
forms an island of refuge where you can lean back and drop the guard for a short while.
Otherwise the bulk of the music shows quite a lot of similarities with Canterbury Scene’s better
moments; restlessly wandering keys, psyched-out moments and the same approach towards jazz-rock,
with a floating ill-defined structure that is dynamic in a smooth, transitional way while remaining
exciting due to stunning individual performances and a natural curvature and change in the
underlying rhythm. Yes, that, but on speed. It’s tighter, faster, grittier and a whole lot more room
for passion and extrovert punching power. Volatile, but infectiously so. On the other hand, it may
be more leaning towards the lawless territories that make up avant prog. Sparse atonal
instrumentation, impulsive and catatonic in a weird but functional combination or just spastically
mischievous, not only marked by typical manifestations of avant tendencies, but also skilfully
masked, or rather integrated, into more ‘familiar’ structures and motifs; squealing, creaking or
whispering string harassment, totally fearless and pleasantly nonsensical piano runs (given a lot of
space on some of the tracks – lovely!) or built-in fragments of other melodies, so terribly out of
place you just have to melt. The spirited, warm and stompy jazz-rock rhythms that should be familiar
if you’ve ever heard Arbeit Mach Frei are still around of course, and the fact that they feel
concise says a lot about the rest of the album, and I guess they are one of the few features that
honestly anchors Area to their Jazz-Rock/Fusion home. A personal favourite in the candy store of
sounds found here are the ‘conversations’ between bass guitar, drums and keys that are strewn out on
Crac!. Incredibly fast, complex phrases taking turns and joining each other in a somewhat chaotic,
but very enjoyable manner.  
Another similarity with the excellent debut is that the first song is also the best one. L’Elefante
Bianco’s dramatic, condensed and highly captivating piano motif accompanied by Demetrio Stratos
impeccable vocal qualities (the man is a phenomenon – emotion, tone, using his voice as just another
instrument, experimentation – flawless performance regardless of what the challenge may be) sucks
you in and surprises you with its honest, dominating and charged appeal. A veritable ear-opener, and
the busy Middle-East melody that follows is equally good. It moves with blinding speed, delicacy and
ferocity and the images of a surreal chaotic bazaar it evokes somehow describe the album perfectly:
teeming with life, full of an at first overwhelming amount of flavours that appeal to, excite and
question your previous experiences…and above all the pleasant feeling that you could lose yourself
forever in its exotic magic.
An absolute masterpiece and a personal favourite on all levels. Concluding word: unstoppable.
5 stars.
//LinusW