HOTEL BRUN

In mid-90's Sithonia went through their most difficult period.Many hours of rehearsals, lack of time due to daytime jobs and an insignificant impact to the markets brought lack of passion and enthusiam for new recordings.Additionally original guitarist Roberto Magni decided to leave the band.However the remaining members along with new guitarist Sauro Musi found the strength for a last shot.A new album entitled ''Hotel Brun'' was released in 1999, again the band was supported by Mellow Records.

The difficult period the band went through was somehat mirrored on this new effort.Although having this typical romantic and slightly old-school Italian Prog sound, ''Hotel Brun'' contains the less risky and nervous arrangements the band had put on.Swirling around a smooth and careful sound and with a limited focus on the ( nevertheless always light) interplays, the album relies much on melody ans song-based material, not unlike ATON'S.However it is still better than most of the amateur recordings some Italian Prog-wannabees throw in the market.The keyboards have a nice symphonic sound and the guitars of Musi burst out some very interesting melodies.The combination of the polished instrumental ideas and the passionate Italian vocals remains very attractive and additionally Sithonia colored their sound with the addition of a violin player (Paolo Zuntini), now sounding a lot like IL CASTELLO DI ATLANTE.Still the listener may become a bit nostalgic over the more professional and energetic effort in ''Confine''.

Immediately after the album was released Sithonia disbanded as silently as they entered the prog world.But even through these hard circumstances they managed to put up a very decent last show with ''Hotel Brun'' being a fine work of light Italian Symphonic Rock, respecting all of the fundamentals of the style.Recommended.