DARRELL'S JOURNAL 2116

Avocado Moon Experiment is a project from Turin started in 2016 with the aim of composing a sci-fi rock opera blending progressive rock and metal. The project took a more definite form in 2020 and on the 30th of December of the same year the band digitally self-released a promising debut album entitled "Darrell's Journal 2116" with a line up featuring composer and multi-instrumentalist Giuseppe Floridia (guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals) along with Marco Benigno (vocals), Giulia Valerin (vocals), Luca Ragusa (guitar, bass) and Luca Zanon (drums) plus the guests Jacopo Albini (clarinet), Madalina Smocov (flute), Maria Beatrice Venanzi (violin) and Giuseppe Vizzini (flute). The album was recorded and mixed by Giuseppe Floridia in his Floryd Sounds Studio and collects the first five chapters of what is meant as a work in progress telling a long story set in a dystopic future...

The nervous opener "Chapter 1: Dawn In Salem" sets the atmosphere and introduces the subject matter. In 2116, in a dreamless world, after a restless night the protagonist, a man called Darrell who lives in the city of Salem, volunteers for a project named Avocado Moon Experiment. The A.M.E. project was launched by the firm Avocado Industries that after the construction of a city on the moon named Jera, now is looking for some people to send there to experience a new utopia: a life where money and work are not necessary in a place where everything is in charge to the machines...

In "Chapter 2: The Spacewhale", on a steady marching pace we can follow the journey from the earth to the moon through Darrell's journal. The following "Chapter 3: Beyond The Clouds" begins by a guitar arpeggio and soaring, dreamy notes of flute in the forefront backed by the rhythm section and the organ. Three months after the arrival in Jera life goes on lazy and peaceful but the protagonist feels that something is missing and his sense of nostalgia and confusion is strong. Then Darrell begins a relationship with a woman called Scarlett and they find mutual understanding and comfort...

Next comes "Chapter 4: Innocence" that tells of the doubts and regrets of Darrell and Scarlett. They wonder where's gone the inner fire that can stir desires and emotions and, between instinct and reason, they realize that something is lost while memories come back and the awareness of a new responsibility emerges... The last track, "Chapter 5: The Star Rover", features some excellent, classical inspired, instrumental passages and welcomes the birth of the son of Darrell and Scarlett, Charles the Star Rover, who will learn to travel through space and time...

On the whole, this is a good album with an interesting concept, nice melodies, a good interaction between theatrical male and female vocals and some beautiful instrumental passages. Waiting for the next chapters of the story, we have here a work of more than 32 minutes of music that is really worth listening to...