LOVE HATE ROUND TRIP

The second album of this Italian band from Pescara is definitely better than their eponymous debut one. The band go further exploring the possibilities of mixing vintage instruments sounds and love for Seventies Prog masters such as VDGG or Genesis with new ideas... Although you can find here some echoes from the past, Areknamés are not just a clone of someone else playing by tore and trying to stir nostalgic feelings into their listeners. To the contrary, the song-writing of the leader Michele Epifani is excellent and on this album Areknamés seem to have found their own way...

The opener "The Skeletal Landscape Of The World" is a complex and dark thread of images "painted" by the voice of Epifani that reminds of Genesis and VDGG... It features aggressive guitar in Black Sabbath style well intertwined with quieter piano and keyboards passages...

The second track, "Deceit" in my opinion is outstanding... "Come to me, I'm ready..." In the beginning vocals are enthralling and delicate, soaring upon an ethereal keyboard and acoustic guitar pattern, but all along the more than 10 minutes length of this piece there's room for many surprises and changes in the musical direction...

The music keeps on flowing without weak moments, actually all the tracks are very good, like the sinister and agoraphobic "Outcast", "La Chambre" (inspired by a Balthus' painting), "Snails" (a Gnidrolog's cover), "Yet I Must Be Something", "Ignis Fatuus", "Stray Thoughts From A Crossroad"... Actually, there's no filler till the final "The Web Of Years". All the compositions, although complex, are perfectly balanced showing great song-writing skills that combine dark symphonic prog with jazz, psychedelic and classical influences...

Probably Areknmées during the session of this album were dreaming to be in the Seventies, but without losing the conscience of the present. Their music is about dreams and nightmares, they're like painters using notes instead of brushes to draw musical landscapes and images... At length they managed to escape from their "rusty cage of fears" and from the scepticism that surrounded their debut... "There's no more sign of something that makes dreams different from reality / It wasn't me that chose it" (from "La Chambre").

In the whole, I think that "Love Hate Round Trip" could be an excellent addition to every prog collection and it is especially recommended to fans of bands like Van Der Graaf Generators...