VV.AA.
Dante's Purgatorio - The Divine Comedy - Part II

THE REVIEW

As is often the case, I found myself in Metz (home of Musea Records) for work, making a haul of prog records, which I am about to present to you—call it a duty of journalism. Flip the page immediately if it bothers you, or settle in and listen in silence. (Well, silence is not necessary).

This is the second MEGA episode of the progressive sagas unfolding on poor Earth, featuring emerging progressive rock bands with the task of narrating the stories (previously narrated, certainly better by Mister Dante Alighieri) concerning the Divine Comedy. The second episode, as is known, deals with the Purgatory, that transitional zone where the naughty ones go who were not sinful enough to end up in Hell and not virtuous enough to deserve Paradise. Thus, for this new narrative, the magazine Colossus (land of Finland) has selected a remarkable 33 (say thirty-three and as soon as I slip a finger down low, cough) progressive rock bands from all over the world to assign each a specific canto of Purgatory and develop it with a prog theme, but abiding by strict and severe rules of the game. Obviously, nobody followed these rules, and from the planned triple album, once again (as happened with Inferno) here we are to comment on a mighty quadruple album to spend some hours in company.

As one might expect, even here, in each of the four volumes, there are bands with a positive outcome and other bands that have not approached excellence (I'm being kind, aren't I?).

Along the way, we discover that due to an "Intro" and an "Outro" and a special guest and other non-historical, but very prog pleasantries, Purgatory has expanded from the original 33 cantos to as many as 36 episodes! But Providence, as we know, is capable of such feats.

Very skilled, in volume one, are Simon Says, Ramundo Rodulfo, and Willowglass. Not entirely excellent are Nemo, decidedly out of place (in a progressive sense) are Ten Midnight, with a track that feels like smooth Italian pop but is somewhat disconnected from the rest of the presentation, where, as we well know, wheelbarrows full of keyboards, dense atmospheres, symphonies, odd times, etc... etc... were required.

In the second volume, it is necessary to mention our own Sophya Baccini, not so much for the track, which is what it is, but for her voice, which is decidedly above average. Good performance by Nuova Era, at least for half of the track. Good track by Little Tragedies and the Italians Armalite, technically (music and lyrics) perhaps the best track of the entire volume, but somewhat penalized by homemade sounds, good even if not too personal that of the American Phideaux. Far too imitative of Emerson's escapades is that of Survival.

For the third volume, Maxwell's Demon with a good dark and biting doom, Matthjis Berder, very incisive. A decent return for the Italians Mad Crayon. Definitely poor is the song by Lady Lake, a pity given all the history they have behind them.

Fourth volume features good stuff from: Equilibrio Vital, Jinetes Negros, and also Yesterdays, not too positive an opinion for the somewhat light closure of the album, though technically well done by the duo Pasini & Ragozza.

Happy cover, composed by the noble stroke (again) of the Roman Davide Guidoni.

I close to not bore further. Given the product, I tried to tackle the matter in a lighter and more ironic way than usual. But for all those who love the genre, this too is a must-have record.

Sioulette.