Janus
Al Maestrale

Punk was all the rage: a far-right group tried to break through but due to a music market that only sought post-flower child rebels, punkers, brigatists, etc., they couldn't surpass the threshold of anonymity: theirs was a solid (yet fragile) rock, with progressive temptations and digressions of pure rock 'n roll (almost punk). The record sold very little (compared to 'From Genesis to Revelation' it was a great success), and now the original vinyl would be worth... No, let's talk about the musical aspects of the work.

Poor recording, hisses, sound that seems to come from a potty: this is how this little gem of just 27:30 minutes presents itself to the human ear. An Dro has the hard task of opening the album: enchanted introduction and main flute theme, almost jazz keyboard wanderings, few guitar sketches; okay, they are not Le Orme or PFM, but as a start, it’s not bad.

Already, a Nordic, Viking atmosphere is being created, which was rarely found in records of the time (barbaric metal gallops were not yet in vogue). The title track, Al Maestrale, a quite progressive piece not lacking in atmosphere, is one of the peaks of the album: a subdued start with an erudite vocal (nasal voice, highly annoying), midway the song breaks into hard rock lightning and thus it bids farewell. Trotto (1:41) is another gem, an instrumental with flute and background drums that simulate the trot of a horse: highly atmospheric, at the end of the song you might find yourself dancing on a broomstick...

Il Ritorno Del Cavaliere Nero begins with stabs, blows inflicted on the stomach of the unsuspecting listener, who helplessly surrenders to the blade of the dreaded knight: it's a shame that the song doesn't present any further ideas, as at a certain point it settles into a guitar solo that by '77 already smelled old (and I don't say this with a punk mentality, which I abhor by the way).

Il Fuoco E La Spada, definitely the masterpiece of the album: "Today, I rode heavenly steeds, right a step away from the stars..." the voice is not much, but the song, the bitter truth of the lyrics, and some beautiful guitar solos make us understand that the Janus have guts, oh if they have... Neapolis (1:02), in the same vein as Trotto, actually sounds like an incomplete small fragment, placed there probably because no one could follow it up: not to be discarded anyway. Manifestazione Non Autorizzata is just a Rock 'n roll, nothing more, with a text too prosaic to make a breakthrough. Another story King Of The Faires, with nice synthesizer solos and the inevitable flute, the group's "trademark." Tempo Di Vittoria, the last track, is a canonical hard rock that seems to come from '68-69 or thereabouts: here the Janus have fun and go wild, but the poor recording quality does not allow us to fully grasp their message: canonical.

'Al Maestrale', one of the rarest and most forgotten Italian albums, from a group that would dissolve into nothingness in a few years. 4 stars to the Janus who in '77-78 screwed everyone with a terribly outdated album that could not have existed even a year earlier: too avant-garde.