NEO

There's no accounting for taste is there. I was blown away by their debut but I knew after one listen that "Neo" was a different beast. It's been 6 years since their debut and they now have a new drummer, but more importantly their flute player has left. So that's one big difference, a lot less flute. The mellotron is more prominant though but the vocals and songs for me aren't as good as on the debut. Now understand that by far the majority feel that "Neo" is an upgrade over the debut. So big surprise that my thoughts and feelings about this album are in the minority.

"Dissimmetrie" is keyboard led and a little jazzy to start. Vocals 2 minutes in.Lots of organ in this one. It settles before 6 1/2 minutes with reserved vocals and mellotron. "Medusa" features some great sounding mellotron which is contrasted with the keyboards. Vocals and piano after a minute. Themes are repeated. Nice bass after 4 minutes. I like the mellotron that comes and goes. "Idra" is a piano laden track. "Risveglio Procreazione E Dubbio Pt.I" is led by bass, drums and keyboards in this uptempo intro. It settles with mellotron and acoustic guitar.It kicks back in. Vocals and a calm before 2 minutes. It gets fuller. Another calm after 6 1/2 minutes and before 9 minutes. Some guest violin and piano here. "L'amore Diverso" features laid back piano melodies throughout.

"Cerbero" is uptempo with keyboards and drums. Mellotron comes and goes.Theatrical vocals and violin follow. Crickets after 2 minutes. I thought it was my phone 'cause my ring-tone is the sound of crickets. Ok maybe I shouldn't have said that (haha). I like the synths 3 1/2 minutes with organ and drums. Themes are repeated. A calm after 6 minutes before kicking back in a minute later. "Risveglio Procreazione E Dubbio Pt.II" opens with drums, bass, mellotron and keys. Great sound. Synths and drums lead before 3 minutes. A calm with flute 4 1/2 minutes. Synths are back with drums and bass. Vocals are back after 6 1/2 minutes. Mellotron follows then synths and violin.

If I hadn't heard the debut I might have given this 4 stars so maybe 3.5 stars isn't fair, but i'll stick with the debut thankyou.