ROUND MIDNIGHT

Moongarden

Symphonic Prog

3.60 | 81 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

No surprises

This 2003 release is Italian band Moongarden's fourth album, recorded some nine years after their debut. While classified overall as symphonic prog here, "Round midnight" is rooted more in the Art Rock of bands such as Radiohead. There are leanings towards neo-prog, and perhaps even symphonic prog, but these are primarily in the washes of keyboards which adorn the songs; with organ, mellotron and synth all combining to provide a lush basis for each number.

The second track, "Wounded" offers the prefect example of what the album is all about, the melancholy Radiohead like vocals being complemented by some very Marillion like lead guitar. The following "Killing the angel" delves even deeper into Radiohead territory, or at least the melodic soft rock side of that band.

After a sparse intro, "Lucifero" positively swims in mellotron, with fine neo-prog style lead guitar occupying the song's core. "Slow motion streets" features oboe and cello as part of the intro, the ensuing distorted lead vocals of Luca Palleschi giving the track a Porcupine Tree feel. The song as a whole remains uncharacteristically understated.

If Porcupine Tree similarities were perceptible on "Lucifero", they are positively jumping out on the 10 minute "Learning to live Under the Ground", the intro to which sounds like it has been lifted straight from "In absentia" (released the previous year). This is unsurprisingly the most progressive track on the album, the song also bearing the watermark of IQ. The brief following "Coda: Psychedelic Subway Ride" could perhaps have simply been appended to its predecessor.

In all, a highly competent and enjoyable album which, while appearing somewhat derivative, is surprisingly difficult to pigeon hole in terms of genre.

Easy Livin | 3/5 | 2008-5-19

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