I SUPPLICANTI

Some time ago I received the "Camera Astralis" album from a friend who knows my love for Italian Prog and GENESIS, so after asking she discovered "I Supplicanti" which apparently combines two of my musical obsessions and bought it for me with the best possible intentions.

After receiving the album and thanking her for the interest, went to my house, placed "I Supplicanti" in the CD player and listened it with my headphones to appreciate the music that was supposed to be outstanding, and this is what I found:

"Cantar delle Genti" opens the album with a pretty interesting a mysterious overture that reminds nothing of GENESIS, but gives the idea of an epic and powerful album, maybe a bit too pompous, but hey...Pompous is the middle name of Progressive Rock.

But the radical change and the disappointment starts with "Di Ansia e D'Ombra". After a nice 12 string guitar opening, the song morphs into a soft and a bit tedious ballad with the voice of Franco Vassia, who sounds as Phil Collins long time lost Italian twin brother. The melody is nice with reminiscences of "A Trick of the Tail" but also with Collins solo stuff, some cute moments, but after a minute or two, it's boring.

"La Ruota Del Pavone" is a bit more speedy than the boring past track, but when "Vassia" starts to sing, the obvious characteristics of clones appear obvious even for the casual listener, only that this time is even closer to three men "Genesis".

"Febbre D'Arlecchino" is clearly inspired in the title song of "A Trick of the Tail", only that with less class, no Mellotron or dark mysterious atmospheres, just the middle point between "ATOTT" and "Invisible Touch", with that cheesy 80's sounding keyboards.

"Il Gioco Dell'Oca" is slightly more interesting than the previous songs, but contradictory is the most clearly oriented towards POP Genesis. Nice rhythm, a couple of good organ sections and decent piano, but nothing special..

By this point I'm tempted to put away the album and to be honest neither "I Margini Del Sogno" or "I Giorni Dell ' Inchio" help too much. The first one is sappy, catchy tune that could had fit in a post "Duke" GENESIS album and the second one is a boring Adult Contemporary ballad that could had been released by Phil Collins alone.

Thanks God, the album ends with "Ballando Sui Vetri", one of the most annoying ballads I ever heard, to the point, that I feel no desire to comment it.

I wanted to give "I Supplicanti" two stars because the excellent Overture, a couple of good moments and a bit of nostalgia, but I have to be honest and if I add the lack of originality, bright, emotion and even capacity to clone GENESIS with the level of other bands, I can't rate it with more than one stars, that could be 1.5 at the most

Only for diehard fans of Collins Genesis.

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