ANABASI ROAD

Anabasi Road are a young band from Reggio Emilia that came to life in 2009 with the aim of blending prog, hard rock and blues with a touch of freshness and a great passion for vintage sounds. The name of the band refers to the Ancient Greek and evokes a hard march uphill. After a good live activity on the local scene, in 2014 they self-released an interesting eponymous album with a line up featuring Andrea Giberti (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Massimiliano Braglia (guitar, drums), Alessio Gambarelli (guitar), Riccardo Vecchi (bass), Luca Orlandini (keyboards, organ, piano) and Nicholas Corradini (drums, guitar). Although they can't be considered the most original band on the rich current Italian prog scene, Anabasi Road are a talented bunch of musicians and on their debut album they showcase a good potential. If you like bands such as Wicked Minds or Psycho Praxis I'm sure you will appreciate this work as well.

The opener "Pleasure In Me" starts by nervous electric guitar riffs and dark organ waves. The music and lyrics describe a haunting presence and an insane, dangerous passion that rises like dust on the road while a strange, silent feeling sets hope and time on fire. The following "Clashing Stars" is a kind of wild prayer to the sky for a new life and tells about a desperate, merciless need for vendetta in an endless war where there's no room for respect and pity.

Next comes the disquieting "Dreaming For You" where the music and lyrics describe a strange experience: a restless dream, a fall into a windy grave, a lapse of reason with blind lies whirling inside your mind... It leads to the long psychedelic blues "Say Man", haunted by the ghost of Jim Morrison.

"Guerra Mondiale" (World War) is the only track sung in Italian on the album and I think that it's a real pity that the band didn't exploit more their native language. It begins by a delicate piano pattern, then the music and lyrics describe the feelings of a soldier in a dark, wet night before the battle... There's blood on the ground and on the hearts, you can hear cries and shouts, marching men and bombs falling all around... A great track!

The following "Maybe Tomorrow" is full of rebellious energy and invites you to fight against the people who try to manipulate your conscience and your mind. It leads to the long, dark "I Walk Alone" that depicts in deep red colours a man possessed by a haunting vision who looks at him through a shining glass. Filled with pain and rage, with no hope nor God, now he walks toward his new dark Lord... The bluesy "Requiem" concludes the album with no prayers, no cries and no shouts but a great electric guitar solo.

On the whole, a good album for classic rock lovers. Anyway, you can listen to the complete album in streaming on bandcamp: have a try and judge by yourselves.