Sinestesia
The Day After Flower

THE UNUSUAL PLACE

Taurianova (RC), summer 2009, trusted barber, waiting: aimlessly flipping through one of those gossip magazines, I come across an article roughly saying - "Forget nerd, Alessandro Sala is a metalhead", reaction: "Who the hell is Alessandro Sala".. Continuation of the article: "The winner of <la pupa e il secchione> is indeed an intellectual but is also the bassist of a prog metal band"... ahhhh I get it, he's one of those idiots from that crappy show on Italia 1 that aired a couple of years ago, where the hotties pretended to be, but actually were, idiots. And these guys would lecture and drool over them hoping for a makeout session.. It was all very ugly.

The fact is that when I got home, while waiting for lunch, I went to check out this band: Sinestesia - Trieste prog metal band - album two. The latest in 2009. Ok let's get it.

LISTENING WITH PREJUDICE

A few days later, more out of curiosity than anything else, I pressed play and started "The Day After Flower".

The opening track is "Hero": ..mmm.. Intro that seems like "Baywatch" theme, ok I'll turn it off now.. Oh no no wait.. Nice riff, the keyboard isn't bad either.. Warm voice.. Drums doing their job.. Bass in counter-time... Successful chorus, could it be that these guys know how to play? Here's the confirming solo.. Ok they know how to play!

At this point I moved on, "Feast": keyboard riff, filtered voice and shortly after clear, chorus that works great here too, indeed it's even better than the previous one.. All good..

"The Birth, The Death, Trance By The River": ah this must be the longest track.. From the title I had this impression, confirmed ten minutes later. Compared to the first two tracks, here there's more aggression, especially in the first part, due to the greater distortion of the guitar. The suite is well articulated, with acoustic passages where the singer tries out a pretty good falsetto, piano inserts and a hyper-technical guitar solo. Wow.. Prejudice eliminated.

"Burning Times" is the fastest track, the most technical one, now made dark by the almost baritone vocals, now theatrical by the symphonic choirs. Admiration.

The listening continued with "Violet", a very evocative slow piece, and "C.W.A. Prelude" great instrumental interlude to "Cold War Apocalypse": the track that I liked the least from the start, maybe because it reminds me of the latest Dream Theater. (Oops.. blasphemy)

"Twilight": soft arpeggios.. Structure made unique by splashes of electronics.. It's the band's most personal track and the penultimate chapter of the book.. Which ends as you wouldn't expect.. That is with "Memento": a sweet song sung entirely in Italian, very enjoyable.

Thus, a supposed waste of time turned into a discovery.

THE OBJECTIVE CONCLUSION

- Roberto De Micheli (guitar)

- Alberto Bravin (keyboards)

- Paolo Marchesich (drums)

- Alessandro Sala (bass) < rehabilitated to a person capable of reason >

- Riccardo De Vito (vocals)

Five musicians endowed with great technical skill and compositional taste. Classic-styled progressive metal. Well done.