DESTINAZIONI

Melting Clock came to life in Genoa in 2001 to play progressive rock covers of bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, PFM, Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Opeth or Ayreon just to name a few. After many years spent honing their skills and some line up changes, in 2019 the band released an excellent debut album, entitled "Destinazioni", on the independent label Black Widow Records with a line up featuring Emanuela Vedana (vocals), Simone Caff' (guitars), Stefano Amadei (guitars, bouzuki), Sandro Amadei (keyboards, vocals), Alessandro Bosca (bass) and Francesco Fiorito (drums) plus the guests Stefano Cabrera (cello) and Fabrizio Salvini (percussion, flute). According to the band, it's a concept album sui generis with pieces revolving about the theme of travel in all its meanings and the art cover by Matteo Anselmo gives a clue of its musical and lyrical content...

The ethereal opener 'Caleidoscopio' (Kaleidoscope) is a long, complex track that takes you by the hand for a walk on an inner path leading through visions and dreams, where doubt is the rule and consistency is short lived. The theatrical voice of Emanuela Vedana is charming as she evokes a chant of free dizziness, unequal flows and rhythms soaring from the heart or inner demons dancing in circles while the soul emerges from a dark abyss of emotions and feelings...

'Banalmente' (Banally) starts softly by a piano solo intro. It's a beautiful, bittersweet ballad drenched in sarcasm and indignation that criticizes conformism and passive acceptance of injustice, the lack of solidarity and the renounce to fight for a better future. The lyrics depict images of men of power trying to defend their castles of sand by building useless fences and bloodstained beaches where the dead bask in the sun. Right on those beaches the rich dig trenches to defend their high season party...

The disquieting 'Vetro' (Glass) is a dark piece with operatic vocals and a mysterious, Oriental flavour. The music and lyrics conjure up a cage of glass where the protagonist is trapped in anguish and pain. It's a kind of nightmare that melts only when the night falls down hiding the spectral landscape of hundreds of glass cages, each one containing a captive soul. Hugged by darkness the protagonist can fall asleep and fly away...

'Strade affollate' (Crowded streets) is an acoustic ballad where the sense of redemption prevails. It depicts people without dreams that keep on walking like shadows through silent streets, then the lyrics exhort those persons to break free from the chains of Time and start singing again, expressing their feelings, trying to find a new sense of human dignity...

'L'occhio dello sciacallo' (The jackal's eye) is a surreal short track that alternates nervous passages and lighter ones. The music and lyrics compare a business company meeting to an obscure ritual where the team manager plays the role of the priest and the employees have to pray since only the most devoted will be saved. But a voice speaks up, refusing to be accomplice, slave and executioner, she asks for help because she knows that she can't save the world alone... In vain!

The slow, mysterious 'Antares' tells of a journey towards the horizon, following a call coming from a place full of music and poetry. A shining star, Antares, shows the way in the darkness. Unknown, faces, voices, streets, strange melodies, a dream of freedom that takes you away...

'Sono luce' (I am light) is another beautiful, introspective piece where music and words describe a mystical experience. Space and time melt and the protagonist takes off, flying over pain and sadness, becoming light and air in a perfect symbiosis with her inner self and the nature that surrounds her...

The short, evocative instrumental 'Quello che rimane' (What is left) leads to the final track, 'Destinazioni' (Destinations), a long suite divided into three parts, 'Il cerchio del tempo' (The Circle Of Time), 'Crepe' (Cracks) and 'Partenze' (Departures), inspired by the cyclical nature of Time. There are many changes in rhythm and atmosphere, aggressive electric guitar riffs alternate with softer, dreamy passages and soaring operatic or narrative vocals... The music and words evoke fragmented images and illusions of a journey that eludes boundaries and time, of an endless flight where songs change and dress in new notes... Until the circle closes and everything starts again.

On the whole, a wonderful work that grows spin after spin.