OGNI PENSIERO VOLA

MUSEA (quite unusual for them BTW to release an Italian band) describes TAPROBAN as 70's progressive rock dominated by keyboards in the vein of ELP, GENESIS and PFM, featuring as well arpeggian guitar and a RUSH- style rhythm section. And that description fits quite well I've to say. The music of this Italian threesome is deeply rooted in the sound of the golden years of prog and much in the tradition of famous trios like LE ORME for example.

The concept behind this debut album is about a parc with sculptures of mythological characters designed by Pierfrancesco Vicino Orsini in sixteenth century which became known later on only under the name "Parco dei monstri". Their main approach on here is to transcend the frightening impressions of classic mythology into the music and therefore it's not surprising that the overall sound is rather dark and somber. Nevertheless there are some thoughtful and positive moments as well like on Tracks 4 and 8 with nice acoustic guitar. Especially due to Gianluca De Rossi's vocals in their native language they provide a feeling which is much closer to the 70's Italian Prog scene than to its British counterpart. That's actually why I prefer their debut to the much too spacey (according to my taste) follow-up. The band is presenting a very strong musicianship throughout, only I've to criticize the slight lack of ideas revealing at times in too many repeatings as in the long track "L'orco". As my co-reviewer mentioned as well, the only disturbing track is "La casa pendente" consisting merely of strange synths sounds and ridiculous "Micky Mouse"- alike sounding voices which supposed to represent some demons most probably. This track can easily be skipped without missing anything. Not only this point but rather the lack of originality and innovation is keeping me off to rate this record higher than with 3 stars, maybe adding an extra half one for the excellent musicianship. Nevertheless a very good album and certainly worth to be checked out by any retro prog fan who doesn't mind lots of keyboards, but I'd hesitate to call it an essential one.