ZOICEKARDIÁ

ARIA PALEA was a band that rode the wave of the prog revival of the 90s which spawned all kinds of interesting new bands that have paved the way for the ensuing decades to come and with the advent of the internet, bands from far flung places could now participate in the resurgence of interest that peaked in the 70s and then took a brief snooze. This quintet that began with Gianluca Milanese (flute, saxophone, clarinet), Egidio Marullo (drums, percussion), Apollonio Tommasi (bass), Gigi De Giorgi (vocals), Emanuele Licci (guitar) and Fiorino Calogiuri (vocals) and came from the extreme southeastern city of Leccia which sits on the heel of Italy's boot shape overlooking Albania to the west.

Although when one thinks about Italian prog it's natural to assume it involves some sort of passionate symphonic display of theatricality with operatic vocals and stunning dynamic interplays between keyboards, guitars and other instruments like the flute however there has always been a smaller group of prog oriented Italian bands that have gravitated to the folkier side of things with classic artists like Canzoniere del Lazio, Aktuala, Delirium, Carnascialia and Stormy Six just to name a few doing just that. Following in the footsteps of these pioneers were several Italian bands that were more influenced by the pastoral sounds of 70s Genesis or the classic sounds of Jethro Tull over the more operatic homegrown sounds from bands like PFM or Banco.

ARIA PALEA formed in 1993 and released two albums in the 90s with this debut ZOICEKARDI'A coming out in 1996. The title supposedly means "life and heart" in Greek ( ζωή και καρδιά). This album is basically a whole bunch of influences thrown in the mix without a lot of originality in display. The opening title track will immediately think you threw on an Area album, particularly "Maledetti (Maudits)" where Demetrio Stratos engages in all those weird vocal gymnastics but as soon as that track is finished the band jumps into a proggy form of folk rock that takes a bit of Jethro Tull's flute driven rock moments and mixes it with acoustic pastoral sections from 70s Genesis. As with many Italian bands ARIA PALEA opts to sing in its native tongue which by its very nature gives the album a distinction from its English influences.

Comparisons to bands like Dalton and Finistrerre do ring true but ARIA PALEA is a little sloppy and sound like they are a garage band just getting their feet wet and nowhere near the big boy's league of crafting complex memorable melody driven prog workouts that tug on the heartstrings while dazzling with pyrotechnic instrumental antics. With a total of eight tracks half are over seven minutes long and therefore instead of crafting unexpected twists and turns the band tends to rely on a simple bass groove where the members improvise upon. Gigi De Giorgi's vocals are fairly weak but he gets the job done however there are some cringing moments where his voice falls flat. The second ending title track extends past the 11 minute mark but is fairly undynamic and the weakest track on the album.

On the positive side, ARIA PALEA doesn't sound like any other band that i've heard despite similarities and obvious influences but on the downside this band wasn't ready for primetime and sounds like its struggling to maintain its chops while creating decent yet average sounding songs that occasionally sound awkward. The band is certainly on the right track in crafting its own distinct identity but just hasn't mastered the songwriting and musical performances to bring it to fruition. An interesting album that mixes folk and rock with other elements such as slight touches of jazz, blues and even classical but unfortunately this album seems a little aimless at times as it drifts from track to track trying to grasp onto something that sticks.