ABIOGENESI

One of the charms of trolling through someone else’s record collection is that occasionally you come across something you never heard of that captures your attention. Well, the artwork on this one caught my eye for sure, and I’ve definitely never heard of these guys. But since they are Italian, considered progressive, and aren’t classified as an “RPI” band, I have to say I was curious to hear them.

Well, I can see why they aren’t considered Italian symphonic, that’s for sure. I personally might debate if they are actually progressive either, but I’ve never been much of a purist about where and how those lines are drawn either.

This strikes me as more a kind of campy, lighter version of faux goth-rock bands like the eighties group Specimen, but then there are the keyboards so that comparison is out I suppose. Musically at least, although not as far as the band’s projected image is concerned.

And the keyboards are pretty entertaining, varied, and prominent, although I wouldn’t say they are all that complex or impressive as far as that goes. I assume the vocals are Italian, but like most Americans I’m an idiot savant (i.e., only speak English and some Spanish), so who knows really. Italian people know, I guess.

The tracks here blend together pretty well, although each track has something to distinguish it. On “ile st.Louis” the distinguishing characteristic would be the bass, which is quite prominent and sets a surprisingly upbeat pace. “la notte di Ognissanti” is a bit harder and more like FM radio rock, with a vocal/rhythm thing going on that reminds me a whole lot of the Everlast tune “What it’s Like”.

The title track is quite rhythm-heavy, lots of drums and bass, with the keyboards mostly flitting around the beat with more of a pseudo-goth eeriness that isn’t quite convincing, and as opposed to “l'oscura tenebra” which is a bit more restrained and even melodic at times. Nice drawn-out guitar riffs on this one too.

Other than the very short “R.I.P.” and finale, both of which sound very much like they were recorded and spliced in later during the mixing process, the rest of the album consists of the eleven-minute “appuntamento con la Luna”, which again features bass quite prominently. Except for a few vocals at the beginning this is mostly an instrumental, and has this kind of slowly-building tempo that ends up being a full-out jam session for the last three minutes or so. Quite enjoyable, but a bit of a departure from the rest of the album.

I personally wouldn’t buy this myself, but it is a decent enough album. I’m sure the band has its fans, and since I don’t hear anything about the music that is really bad or anything, three stars seems right. Not my kind of music, but might be yours.

peace