IL TEMPIO DELLE CLESSIDRE

What a pleasure. Still fairly inexperienced to the Italian progressive rock scene at the time of first listening to this album, I'm already beginning to see why it has such a worldwide following. A new project from the ashes of Museo Rosenbach comes Il Tempio Delle Clessidre ('The Temple Of The Hourglass'), and this self-titled album, which I went into listening with few expectations. Although the album's sound was very familiar from the beginning onwards, several listens in began to really separate this from the less powerful prog rock out there. What I'm trying to say is, if you are looking for an album that makes modern symphonic prog rock seem relevant, you need not look any further than 'Il Tempio Delle Clessidre'.

Certainly one of the best prog albums of 2010, 'Il Tempio' is easily identifiable with the Italian progressive scene; vintage keyboards, intricate guitars and jazz-tinged drumming, all mixed under the incredibly rich voice of Stefano Galifi. Good musicianship would be nothing without strong compositions of course, and 'Il Tempio' supplies this as well; the songwriting here is dynamic, cleverly arranged and manages to fix grand melodies and complex instrumentation both under the umbrella of virtually any given track. As I have said however, the album did take a few listens to digest the wealth of ideas here. The first song to open me up to the music here however- my own rosetta stone, so to speak- to the album was the melancholic slower ballad 'La Stanza Noscasta', which makes a surprising, but perfect use of bowed instruments to back up the piano and melodic vocal elements. Soon after, I would find even greater appreciation for the more involved tracks.

The real highlight here isn't necessarily any song in particular, but the presence of the keyboards. Elisa Montaldo has received alot of admiration and respect for her perfromance on thse album already, and for no small reason; the eclectic keyboard sounds here are fantastic, and add a great deal to the songs. Here, a listener will find typical prog staples like mellotron and rock organ, but also some beautiful piano work that could have easily found its way into a piece of classical music, or a film score.

There's no denying; the album is one of the best progressive rock albums to have come out of Italy since the '70s. One minor gripe I might have with the album is that it is stylistically very similar to much other symphonic progressive rock, but its strength lies simply in how much it is able to do with the sound, on an emotional level.

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