La maschera di cera
Il grande labirinto

Second album from one of the many side projects of Fabio Zuffanti, a talented bassist and brilliant composer who began his musical career with Finisterre and now divides his time equally among a myriad of other "musical creatures," often quite different from each other but always delivering high-quality music (Hostsonaten, Spazio, La Zona and, indeed, the present MDC). If with the first self-titled work of Maschera di Cera, Zuffanti came very close to creating a masterpiece, with this "Il Grande Labirinto," we can say he has fully succeeded, producing an album that deserves a place among the classics of 70s Italian progressive rock which it openly draws inspiration from (Balletto di Bronzo and Museo Rosenbach above all). The album, divided with a somewhat retro feel into sides A and B, contains 6 tracks, 4 of which are of considerable length (ranging from 9 to 22 minutes approximately). It's impossible to describe in words the beauty of these compositions, but we will make an attempt.

It starts off impressively with the suite "Il Viaggio Nell'Oceano Capovolto parte 1", whose extraordinary melody is further enhanced by the outstanding vocal performance of Alessandro Corvaglia, truly one of the most beautiful voices in national progressive rock. The piece is characterized by an evocative Mellotron, great bass work (also distorted), splendid piano and flute interlacing, and lyrics perfectly in the style of the 70s. Notably, the second part of this track is revisited as a standalone track at the end of the album in a sort of edit version of the original suite. The title track follows in the same vein, while the subsequent "Il Canto Dell'Inverno" is nothing but a brief instrumental starting with a piano that seems to come straight from Keith Emerson's soundtrack for "Inferno" and anticipates the sweet melody that will later dominate the long epilogue of "Il Viaggio Nell'Oceano Capovolto parte 2". Also remarkable is "Ai Confini Del Mondo," which, after a funky start dominated by beautiful interplays of Hammond, flute, and distorted bass (which often admirably replaces the guitar), unfolds a vocal melody once again intense and melancholy: in a word, "chilling". After such beauty, the finale could only be up to par with the mega-suite over twenty minutes long "Il Viaggio Nell'Oceano Capovolto parte 2", rich in moments of extraordinary progressive rock and of which I will only mention the long finale whose sweet melody begins with a solo oboe gradually joined by guitar, organ, and other instruments in a goosebumps-inducing crescendo. In short, Zuffanti once again proves himself to be the crown jewel of Italian progressive rock, creating one of his finest works, which will certainly remain in the annals of our favorite music genre. To put it in few words: buy or die!