IN LIMINE

I've said it before, Finisterre is the best Italian symphonic band around, or at least formed in the past decade or so. And I believe this album is their best studio work. The album starts out with awesome flute work and Hackett style guitar and is just a wonderful piece of instrumental music. There's alot of different styles of prog on this disc: the pastoral "XXV" with hushed singing in English done very well. "Preludio" with tender whispers just under some beautiful guitar weeping. "Ideenkleid Leibnitz Frei" with frantic horn/flute work over some frantic, sometimes metallic drumming, very Canterbury/After Crying sounding. "Hispania" sounding pastoral ala PFM/After Crying, just plain beautiful. "Interludio" has acoustic guitar playing a pretty rift just under some repeated flute work, very post-rockish. "Algos" is straight out weird, kind of a Canterbury freak out that meanders a bit ending up sounding space rockish towards the end, long, disjointed but challenging. The album ends with what I believe is one of if not the best Italian symphonic songs of the 90's, "Orizzonte Degli Eventi", without giving it away, just imagine if PFM/Banco formed in the 90's and this was their first work. It's 16 minutes of absolute glory! It's worth buying just for this track alone, believe me. It's got to be heard if you're a fan of Italian symphonic prog. Masterful!! This is a must have album for fans of the genre and would have been a five star disc if it wasn't for the meandering of "Algos", otherwise it's 4.5 stars for sure.