Standarte
Standarte

Have you ever judged an album by its cover? I have, and it actually turned out well for me! In 1995, rummaging through the wooden shelves of a vendor buried in a dark cave, which in modern times we would define as a basement, I came across this vinyl with a gatefold cover that startled me. Similar to the artwork of the great Marcus Keef for Vertigo records (you know, the one from Affinity?) and with an Italian label whose name was quite a statement, a philosophy, and a religion: Black Widow. To my questions, the record seller explained: "This is a Tuscan band that plays progressive but the hard kind, do you know Quatermass or Atomic Rooster?"

Of course I knew them, and with my usual superstitious phrase (may God send it my way... hopefully good) I left the damp den with the bulky burden under my arm, fearing I had fallen for the same old tedious dull stuff like the PFM of the nineties.

But once home, with the needle resting on the grooves, I was almost struck: a miracle took me years back, to when progressive wasn't a watered-down thing with pompous and inflated arrangements. The Hammond organ of Michele Profeti in "Dream Love Sequence nr. 9" opened up before my eyes old and new horizons, the virile voice in English of the drummer Daniele Caputo reassured me of my purchase, the openings of that other magic box of the genre, the mellotron, and the finale with the piercing guitar solo of Stefano Bauer brought everything home. The album is dedicated to Vincent Crane, the great ceremonialist of the Hammond organ in the mythical Atomic Rooster, who took his life on Valentine's Day in 1989, and believe me, there was no better way to honor him.

Between darkness and light, the gems bloom one after another: "One Strange December" is opened by the mellotron and after the spoken intro by Daniele, it expands into a Sabbath-like riff and dynamic keyboard runs, concluding with an electric guitar arpeggio that is like an ointment to soothe the tortured flesh, but it's nothing less than a tribute to guitar hero Ronnie Montrose of "Synesthesia"" (from "Territory", an album of 1986).

But maybe my favorite track is "Charge of The Light Brigade", an instrumental suspended between the Nice of Keith Emerson and Quatermass, with a choral performance by the four talented musicians to enjoy like crazy: the charge of Profeti's Hammond is supported by the robust rhythm section and the incursions of Stefano Bauer's guitar, who unfortunately by the time of the album's release was no longer part of the group. It's like rubbing your eyes to check if you're awake or if it's a dream.

Fortunately, it's reality, and there's nothing left but to get lost in the epic "As I Wandered Black River of Sorrow" or in the instrumental "Tolerance Town", where the guitar riff is Zeppelin-esque but the keyboards give the track a sharp psychedelic swerve. Speaking of Led Zeppelin, there's a version of "In My Time of Dying" which only shares the lyrics, because Caputo and company, while maintaining its hard structure, drench it in progressive intensity only to return to the heavy riff, disorienting us with an acoustic guitar finale.

During the nineties, the black flag of Standarte will continue to fly with two more excellent albums: "Curses and Invocations" and "Stimmung." The loss of the guitar will pave the way for the triumph of the keyboards: Hammond organ, moog, harpsichord, mellotron, the leading instrument of progressive, also wielded by bassist Stefano Gabbani.

Standarte: so close... yet so far!