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Il Tempio delle Clessidre, in my opinion one of the best bands on the current Italian progressive scene, releases their third album titled “Il-Lūdĕre,” a play on words that is a fusion of the terms “game” and “illusion.” The first album by Il Tempio, I must admit, is still my favorite: it was like listening to Museo Rosenbach and revived the magic of a masterpiece like “Zarathustra.” The singer at the time was, not coincidentally, the legendary Stefano “Lupo” Galifi, and the same band from Genoa was born as a cover band of Museo, whose “Zarathustra” they reproduced live. The subsequent “Alienatura” saw the departure of Galifi, who had meanwhile rejoined the reformed Museo, and he was replaced by the talented Francesco Ciapica, who has a vocal timbre similar to his illustrious predecessor. “Alienatura” did not lack good ideas but, at times, it was prolix and not always well-calibrated and focused despite the great talent of the keyboardist Elisa Montaldo.
“Il-Lūdĕre” features Mattias Olsson on drums and keyboards, a name not unknown in the prog world having played with bands of the caliber of Anglagard and White Willow, along with the usual Fabio Gremo on bass and acoustic guitar, Giulio Canepa on electric guitar, Francesco Ciapica on vocals, and Elisa Montaldo on keyboards. The sounds are those classic of Il Tempio, but compared to “Alienatura,” there is a return to the atmospheres of the first album with a great focus on melody. All members of Il Tempio carve out their own writing space, a bit like Yes did in “Fragile,” and the average quality of the compositions is excellent. After the brief instrumental interlude of “Le regole del gioco,” the following “La parola magica” is a great irresistible and engaging track. “Come nelle favole” is instead an epic hard-prog ride reminiscent of Rainbow written by Fabio Gremo: nothing surprising really; I saw them perform a Deep Purple cover live. Among the other tracks, I highlight “Dentro la mia mente,” the single “Spettro del palco,” an oneiric and surreal piece, the ethereal “Manitou,” very atmospheric with Mattias Olsson's percussion in evidence, and the long “La Spirale Del Vento,” airy and rich with shifting colors.
“Il-Lūdĕre” confirms the entire value of Il Tempio delle Clessidre and I highly recommend it to lovers of '70s Italian prog and beyond.
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