What a fantastic album, undoubtedly my favorite from Forneria; if "Storia di un Minuto" is somehow the most captivating, "Chocolate Kings" is simply the pinnacle of the band. This album features the best lineup of PFM (Lanzetti, Mussida, Premoli, Pagani, Dijvas, Di Cioccio) at the best moment of their career from every perspective; above all, there's Bernardo Lanzetti, finally a lead voice with real balls, this son of Chapman and younger brother of Gabriel, who brings to PFM a charisma and intensity, as well as a vocal ability that had never been approached before (and indeed it’s a much more sung album—thank you very much). Here they fully embrace the English model, and for the first time, Pagani writes lyrics in English, with the collaboration of Marva Jan Marrow—writer, poet, and partner of Dijvas). There are five tracks and they are five bombs; Franco Mussida is the great lord of this album, he is the one who dominates as the main composer (only in "From Under" is he joined by Premoli and—listen carefully—the guest Ivan Graziani) and he is at the artistic peak of his career; Mussida—and the band in general—proves they can keep up with the English masters (aside from Lanzetti, there’s a lot of Genesis in here) and then there's "Paper Charms"... "Paper Charms" that soars high, perhaps the only track from Forneria that gives me "the thrill", a fantastic piece, with a finally fantastic singer.
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