MALEDETTI

"Maledetti" is a very brainy concept album where the notes to the text count more than the lyrics of the songs (by Gianni Sassi), which as usual are too hermetic to really represent politically militant texts or a very surreal or complicated concept. The musical creativity of Area has reached its maximum in the three previous records, one different from the other, and now seeks a synthesis, difficult, relying on the great creativity of the group, in particular of Fariselli and Tofani, authors of the music.

1. Evaporation (1:45). Intro with electronic noises (Tofani) simulating the explosion of the computer that ruled the world and Stratos singing: "We have lost the memory of the fifteenth century." 2. Urban diphorism (6:18). Diforisma is a word that does not exist in Italian, however it implies a split, and the piece of music wants to indicate this break. The concept began, the computer broke and we need to understand who can take the power. The song is characterized by Fariselli's synths which then gives way to a beautiful Tofani electric guitar solo. Below is the rhythmic session, with Walter Calloni on the drums and both Tavolazzi and Hugh Bullen on the bass: the first, however, plays the double bass. The sound of the two basses is fantastic. About three and a half minutes Stratos' voice arrives, it seems to say something but they are still onomatopoeic sounds. The lyrics of the songs, that is, their lack or excessive brevity, is in my opinion a limit of Area: a group with an exceptional singer like Stratos should not do without singing, however good the instrumentalists are. After the vocalizations of Stratos the music starts again, very sustained, always with Fariselli to rage the synths and then again the guitar of Tofani arrives. Remarkable instrumental piece. It is no different as a structure from many "Crac" pieces but it is much more elaborate and inspired. Rating 8.5.

3. Gerontocracy (7:30). That is power to the old men. This piece, originally sung in Greek, is one of the absolute masterpieces of Area and Italian prog-rock. Beautiful start with voice and percussion and saxophone. Around three minutes the singing starts in Italian. Then comes the instrumental part, which follows a Mediterranean and oriental melody, until it becomes jazz-rock thanks to the double bass of Tavolazzi. The synths of Tofani and Fariselli set a Gentle-Giant math-rock in the central part of the track. Finally towards the end the voice of Stratos returns: often after the first album Area forgot to give a complete shape to the songs but this time it does not happen, the music is well developed and ends properly, remaining exceptional at the beginning and very good for the rest of the piece. A piece like this, long, properly sung, and with an excellent instrumental part, accomplished, has even been missing since the debut of "Arbeit Macht Frei", and "Caution Radiation Area" would have remained an absolute masterpiece, if had put a track like this in the end. Rating 8.5 / 9.

4. Scum (6:30). That is power to the women. Beginning with the piano, fast, with the immense, fantastic bass by Tavolazzi, what a prodigy of musician! Syncopated blues rhythm, which then becomes a free-jazz, very high musical level, the music always revolves around the initial phrase of syncopated piano, which could resemble the music of certain songs of the early Steely Dan. Here we see what Steely Dan could have done if they had the courage and creativity of artists without genre frontiers (instead they only made good jazz-blues, classy but conventional, always respecting the song-form - Area run the opposite danger: they risk being transport too much from creativity, neglecting to give a complete and homogeneous form to their art). However, the jazzy pianism of Fariselli and Stratos is very incisive here, and Capiozzo gives his best. It's all improvisation on the same theme, much more free- jazz than both Caution and Crac. But around 5 minutes the track becomes experimental, the voice of Stratos arrives, reciting, theatrically that in our society there is boredom, and women are neglected, so women fearlessly just have to overthrow the government, and destroy the male sex. And on these words: destroy the male, the A side closes, after a short piano sentence. Rating 8+.

A-Side Rating: 8.5 / 9. Great. Yet, with Area, apart from the first album, I always have the impression that their poorly disciplined creativity makes them do less than they could - their technical potential for vocals and instruments and their creativity are among the highest of contemporary music. Occasionally they lack the composition, the formal refinement of the pieces and the overall balance between instrumental and sung parts, leaving little space for Stratos voice.

B-Side 5. The Brandenburg Massacre Number Three In G Major (2:20). Instrumental piece played by a string quartet, and based on the music of J. S. Bach. The piece would like to deconstruct Baroque classical music (the 1700s), classical music, but in reality it is very respectful of original music, and more than anything else it has a slower and less cheerful rhythm, and a more serious tone. The piece remains beautiful but the credit is from J. S. Bach. If Area wanted to change the music, the intent failed, and they ended up putting a short instrumental record on the disc that summarizes Bach's concert. Rating 7.5 (for Bach rating 10).

6. Giro, Giro, Tondo (5:55). That is power to the children. Vocal, polyphonic beginning, where Stratos gives his best, demonstrates what it means to "sing the voice" (title of his best solo work). Then comes Fariselli's synth and the rhythm section, with Walter Calloni (drums) and Hugh Bullen, who try not to regret Capiozzo and Tavolazzi, and therefore they do a lot of work. Stratos sings the few verses of the song, which will remain the only sung part of the whole second side. It is incredible that a group like Area continues to use so little one of the greatest rock singers of all time, preferring to focus almost everything on instrumental pieces. Of course, after the singing by Stratos, the third part of the piece starts at about three minutes, it is a free-jazz instrumental moment, a long frenzied piece conducted by Fariselli's synth, with the rhythmic section that continues to make its virtuosity. The ending is not entirely successful: the first three minutes are fantastic, the rest are a nice free-jazz exercise, but without a real direction. Rating 8.

7. Chaos (Part Two) (9:00). Avant-garde song of 9 minutes where every minute and a half there is an instrument in the foreground to improvise. Stratos starts with vocalizations alternating with guttural and also vulgar and unpleasant sounds, then Steve Lacy's soprano sax alternated with a demented piano by Fariselli. The percussions of Paul Lytton arrive. Some piano phrases evoke the musical motif of the cartoon "The Pink Panther". With the passage of time the piece becomes more musical thanks to the sax alternating with the voice of Stratos who this time performs in sound experiments of a certain musical content, but .... I spoke too early: the unpleasant vocal sounds return, accompanied by the percussion and by Tofani, who participates with the synth. This new atmosphere is unknown if it is more dramatic or demented or grotesque. John Cage is behind the scenes. When the sax returns, the music returns (music: what Area occasionally forget): it is free-jazz. Piece difficult to evaluate, in my opinion reckless improvisation, aimed at surprising is more an academy exercise than a musical creation. I appreciate it intellectually, but above all for free-jazz pieces (in particular the work of Lacy's sax), in my opinion the avant-garde and experimentalism must be at the service of music and not an end in themselves. Rating 8?

Second side almost entirely instrumental, where Stratos is either absent or accompanies music with phonetic experiments. Extemporaneous side, which includes a transcription of baroque music with string quartet and a completely avant-garde and improvised song, perhaps the pinnacle of experimentalism reached by Area. But it is an academic experimentalism. B-side rating: 8?

In its inhomogeneity, Maledetti is a more balanced album than Caution Radiation Area and Crac. It is halfway between these two predecessors. It is very experimental and theatrical, but compared to Caution it has more accessible songs and Stratos can give its best in at least in two songs. Compared to Crac, in general it has more elaborate, more courageous songs, it only lacks a hit such as L'Elefante bianco.

Anyway, I can consider this album a real masterpiece. His quality doesn't reach that of Arbeit Macht Frei but we fly on a wonderful sky, at a big heigh.

Rating 9+. Five Stars.