ULTIMOMIRAGGIO

Mad Crayon began life in the mid eighties in Genzano, a town near Rome. They took inspiration by the progressive rock of the seventies and recorded a first demo with original compositions in 1992. In 1994 the band recorded and managed to release on the independent label Cygnus Records their debut album, "Ultimo miraggio", with a line up featuring Daniele Agostinelli (keyboards), Luca Cleri (guitar), Alessandro Di Benedetti (piano, synthesizers), Stefano Fabiani (drums) and Daniele Vitalone (bass). It's a concept album revolving around the problematic love story between the daughter of the moon and the son of the sun and where the main musical influences come from Genesis or neo-prog bands such as Marillion. The beautiful, oneiric art work by Walter Mac Mazzieri (best known for his art covers for Le Orme) in some way depicts the subject matter...

The opener 'Lost In Years' sets the atmosphere. In a world not very far from here lived two lovers... The music and words depict a world where love and friendship are forbidden and where, because of the feelings that the two lovers have for each other, she is condemned by the mighty, cruel king to go back in time and to come to life again to purify her sin while he has to raise her as her father and to get old prematurely...

The following 'Dance Of Puppets' starts by a frenzied passage describing the lively dance of two puppets on stage. Then the rhythm slackens, the puppets get tired to dance and a veil of melancholy falls down. For them it's time to run away, far from the crowd and the city lights... But when the rhythm rises we know that tomorrow the dance of the puppets will start again and that the marionettes will play their role once more time.

The short, dreamy 'Fiore di Luna' (Moonflower) is a delicate lullaby sung (in Italian) by the son of the sun to the daughter of the moon that now is sleeping and taking off on a ship directed up to the sky, under sun... He can't forget her!

The sparkling 'Running Child' is an instrumental track that begins with a spacey intro and then goes on mixing the energy of rock with classical influences ranging from Bach to Mozart's Turkish March. It leads to the following 'Rapids To The Distant Sea' that tells in music and words (again in English) of a desperate, metaphorical fight against the sea and of a breathless run against the tide...

Next comes 'I giardini di Zoe' (Zoe's gardens) where after a classical guitar incipit the music and lyrics (this time in Italian) conjure up the image of the peaceful, hidden enchanted garden where the lovers used to meet each other defying the authority...

The long, complex 'Ultimo miraggio' (Last mirage) starts softly, with a melancholic mood, while the music and words (in Italian) deliver a heartfelt complaint against an adverse destiny. The night is like a shield for the silence and everything freezes in the heart of a man who's longing for a paradise where his dreams would turn into reality. His lover is just a mirage now... Then 'Persa nel tempo' (Lost in time) closes the album with a reprise of the first track (with a different arrangement and this time sung in Italian), painting with vivid strokes of colour a dream that is now imprisoned in a beautiful tableau...

On the whole, a good album although the vocal parts are not always up to the task and the idea of switching the lyrics from English to Italian and vice versa could make it difficult to follow the storyline.