LINEA DI CONFINE

The majority of the press considerded ''Hybla Atto 1'' to be Randone's most ambitious and mature effort.The same thing applied for Nicola Randone himself and a live transformation of the album on stage was captured and released in DVD in 2006 under the title ''Hybla: A Live Barock Opera'' by Electromantic.Soon after Nicola started working on a fifth studio album, his most personal work as he claimed back at the time.Inspired by the end of a love and the depth of human senses, the new album saw the light in 2009 on Electromantic, entitled ''Linea di confine''.His long-time bassist Livio Rabito was now out of the picture and a few guest bass players helped him with the recordings of this effort, among them Giuseppe Scaravilli from Malibran.Once more Beppe Crovella appears playing all vintage keyboards in several tracks.

A succesful recipe never changes and the same thing occurs with the music of Randone.''Linea di confine'' consists of plenty of short tracks, tightly connected to each other, resulting a long music story along the lines of Classic Italian Prog, always delivered with a contemporary flavor.The album is another sensitive, romantic and deeply melodious offering by Randone & Co., characterized by his drawn but warm vocals, the alternation between orchestral, grandiose instrumental moves and laid-back passages with interesting melodies, and the evident references to the 70's via the use of analog sounds.PFM and similar bands immediately spring to mind listening to ''Linea di confine''.Atmospheric symphonic arrangements, careful use of acoustic guitars, nice instrumental diversity and lovely Italian vocals are all over the place.And next to the fine synthesizer runs the listener will have the chance to listen to heavy loads of Mellotron and organs (to a lesser deegree), that are cleverly used without any mood to drive the music to the past.The Italian identity is obvious throughout the release, bands like SITHONIA, MALIBRAN, NUOVA ERA or MONTEFELTRO being the best comparisons from the recent past.The only flaw of the album seems to be the ballad-esque mood that pops up in plenty of moments, these again are nicely offered through good orchestral music and rich, melodic textures.

Seems like every Randone's work has something good to offer.Except for the music, the album came out in a collector's edition, featuring a book written by Nicola Randone himself, following the concept of ''Linea di confine''.This should be definitely a must have.Even if you don't find this, the album, as it is, belongs among the well-crafted offerings of melodic Italian/Symphonic Prog.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.