WE ARE...

This is the 3rd album by Italian rockers Egoband and it features English language vocals. The band is categorized as Neo-prog but like many bands it's not quite an easy categorization. This band rocks hard and there elements of jazz rock and perhaps even more of space rock.

"Energy Goes On" is a short introduction leading into the title track "We Are." The song begins with synths and pleasant vocals before our band kicks in 90 seconds later. This is a flat out hard rock song and pretty underwhelming. Things improve very much with the 10-plus minute "What a man could be." This is a long space rocker that isn't so far from recent Porcupine Tree material. Persistent heavy drums drive a tripped out guitar and synth swirl until the 3 minute mark when the drums fall away. Then we get some poetic vocals amidst a foggy setting reminiscent of Djam Karet's "Ascension." This will lead us into the lead guitar solo section that goes for several minutes of jamming. "Lost Friends" is a brooding and sad solo Peter Gabriel style piano ballad that I enjoyed very much. "Where have you been" is a short, lovely instrumental with acoustic guitar and mellotron. "So Far Away" is a 10 minute suite with scorching rock and heavy organ not far from Deep Purple territory. Really bombastic stuff throughout with everyone just jamming to their heart's content, this is my pick for best track. Next is another long track called "Peace of Mind" which shifts gears to peaceful mellotron and acoustic guitar with some nice bass touches. The track is slow and spacey but building along the way with nice keyboard touches until it finally breaks free into a stratospheric ending. "Wrapped up in Sweat" is another heavy eclectic rocker with some Gentle Giant sound to it. Some good keyboards and drumming here in the first half and wailing guitars in the second half. "White Paper" is last and is an odd choice for a closer. Very strange, almost experimental with edgy music and abrasive vocals.

This is a hit and miss album with some very good moments and I think the good outweighs the bad. If you like Djam Karet or PT I think you will find a fair portion of this album quite appealing though be prepared for some rough patches. 5/10

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