LA BIBBIA

IL ROVESCIO DELLA MEDAGLIA (The Other Side Of The Coin) was one of many early 70s prog bands emerging from the scene in Rome. This group was formed in 1970 when three members of the beat group I Lombrichi continued on to forge new musical endeavors. While singer Sandro Falbo was amongst those three, he was soon repleaced by Gianni Mereu who would also be replaced by flautist Pino Ballarini who also served as the new lead signer. Best known for their Italian prog classic "Contaminazione" from 1973, the band released two earlier albums and was one of the few Italian prog bands that opted not to include keyboards in its lineup at least for the first two albums. The result is one of the heaviest prog rock sounds in all of the Italian 70s scene.

The basic rock trio instrumentation of Enzo Vita (guitar), Stefano Urso (bass) and Gino Campoli (drums) provided the basis for a 60s heavy psych sound that was turned up a few notches. The band was famous for its powerful and memorable performances and had a specialized sound system that allowed them to play their live sets at maximum value. Something like The Who of the early Italian scene, the band competed in the 1972 Festival of Avant-Garde Music and New Tendencies in Viareggio which caught the attention of the Italian RCA label and led to this debut album LA BIBBIA which also came out in 1971. This debut showcased the ambitious nature of the band and although primarily a hard rock album with prog as a secondary ingredient, the album manages to deliver enough knotty workouts and hairpin turns to sound like a fully developed prog band for 1971. It was the unfortunate theft of the band's expensive equipment that ultimately led to its demise.

LA BIBBIA which means "The Bible" showcased not only the band's instrumental ambitiousness but also its attention to lyrical complexity. The original album was recorded live in the studio and was released with a distinctive round medallion-shaped booklet that narrated the Biblical themes. While sung in Italian like most of the 70s prog acts, the album was noted for its extreme heaviness for a prog band in Italy given no keyboards although the compositions do exhibit some of the traits that the symphonic prog bands implemented such as the passionate operatic vocals and extended musical compositional approaches. The album was considered quite pretentious and narrate episodes from the Old Testament ranging from the Nothingness to the Great Flood. It was one of the earliest concept albums on the Italian prog scene.

While the band may suffer from the absence of keys in the symphonic rock department, IL ROVESCIO DELLA MEDAGLIA delivered a more diverse than usual stab of guitar-oriented hard rock with beautifully melodic songs that offered the occasional use of flute sounds but basically this is a razor-sharp proto-metal style album that focuses on blistering guitar riffs, bantering bass grooves and hefty drumming workouts. There are also moments of psychedelia as with the opening sequence of "Il Nulla" as well the closing short track "Il Diluvio" which is more like a representation of a thunderstorm. The album is quite short just missing the 33-minute mark. While not a best seller, LA BIBBLIA helped the band gain momentum and released a second album of the same style before adding a fifth member, a keyboardist and recording their most famous work "Contaminazione."

This album is better than most ratings reflect as it showcases a more talented than usual band of the Italian prog scene that was several steps ahead of the average beat band that had not yet turned prog. While completely in the hard rock genre paradigm sonically speaking, the composiitons reflected the complexities and symphonic prog aspirations of contemporary Italian prog bands. Perhaps the subject matter for a debut album was too ambitious since a short 33-minute album only feels like it's getting warmed up before it abruptly ends but the band delivered a decent set of five fully developed proggy hard rocks (followed by one ambient sound collage). Supposedly LA BIBBIA begins the journey of a philosophical journey that concludes with "Contaminazione." The band was certainly on the nerdier side of the lyrical spectrum. Overall a decent if not brilliant debut from one of Rome's earliest heavy prog rockers.

3.5 rounded down