POMPEII

TRIUMVIRAT continues with "Pompeii" with their specialty: a conceptual album based on historical events. Now they visit the vanished city of the ancient Roman Empire which was stricken by an earthquake and later destroyed by a volcanic explosion and subsequent lava flow coming from the famed Vesuvius.

Well, the band failed; the sobriety and poignancy required to display this sad story never was achieved - musical atmosphere varies from movie soundtrack to vaudeville-like excesses with pseudo-jazzy passages, totally disconnected from the events presumably described.

The band general sound keeps the early-70s EL&P essence but now blended with space-psych tunes resembling vaguely ELOY or FLOYD - not a productive mixture. Also those pleasant hearable segments noticed more profusely in "Spartacus", probably band's peak album, practically disappeared in this album. There's no omnipresent tune capable to gather our attention and make us remember clearly this production. Weird choirs and meaningless sound effects add few to the final result.

Some song parts are able to amuse the listener but they are really sparse. 'Viva Pompeii' brings a piano introduction which is certainly the most remembered segment of the album. 'The rich man and the carpenter' has a promising beginning but the rest of the song is deceitful. 'Dance on the volcano' bears a Bolero-like introduction cloned directly from EL&P's 'Abaddon's bolero', which by its turn isn't original and so TRIUMVIRAT made a copy from a copy, a disturbing issue, even being the track an average one. 'The Hymn', the final track, carries a poppish accent improper for an intended progressive epic.

All in all, "Pompeii" tells doubtlessly the reasons why TRIUMVIRAT closed their doors - earthquake and volcanic explosion affected the band too. Anyway, this album shall be interesting for collectors and fans.