STORIA DI UN ICEBERG

A rather unknown Italian band,carrying over 25 years of history,ALGEBRA were found in Benevento,South Italy in 1983 by Rino Pastore,Salvatore Silvestri,Carmine Ielardi and Mario Giammetti.In May they recorded a single with little success and the next year the band split up,with Mario, Rino and Salvatore joining the pop band Taxirum until 1988.In 1993 ALGEBRA re-united (without Carmine Ierlandi) and with the help of guest musicians they recorded a brand new album entitled ''Storia di un iceberg'',released on Mellow Records.

STYLE: More than an hour of Neo/Symphonic-oriented Progressive Rock with a few Pop tunes here and there.The album sounds more than an 80's release due to the production and keyboard sounds.Compositions are split in English and Italian sung tracks.''Storia di un Iceberg'' offers a variety of melodies both on guitar- and keyboard parts,which include piano,organ and synths.Not much of energy or complexity,the work is almost totally based on pleasant melodies,romantic vocals and an harmonic aura.Note that ''The prayer'' and ''You can't'' belong to the old ALGEBRA single from 1983,while the album features also a GENESIS meddley,consisting of parts related to ''Afterglow'',''Firth of fifth'' and ''The musical box''.

INFLUENCES/SOUNDS LIKE: Influences come from both from the Italian (BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO,LE ORME) and UK Prog scene (GENESIS),of course in a more accesible package.First bands that springs into my mind are natives SITHONIA and ATON'S.

PLUS: Regardind the symphonic face of the band,it all comes around the very strong guitar melodies and the fascinating keyboard work with lots of fine moog synth solos and organ passages.Italian vocals are also quite romantic.Compositionally the band stands at a very good level.

MINUS:...but regarding the pop tunes,these are very plain,boring and forgettable.English vocals are among the worst I have listened to,bad singing and very accented.Production is also pretty amateur.Some piano parts sound very childish.

WILL APPEAL TO:...a closed community regarding the more symphonic side of prog,including Neo Prog and RPI.

CONCLUSION/RATING: The album hardly gets the 3 star rating.Most compositions are strong and very melodic,despite their simplicity and the band is very talented,but either the bad production or the amateur (English) vocals can spoil much of the enjoyment.Approach carefully.