The Dust
Portrait Of A Change

Shooting at the Red Cross is rather cowardly, especially if it stems from ignorance: music branded with an Italian mark does not seem to offer excellently qualitative solutions, partly due to the choices made by record label majors, who are unwilling to launch bold bands but instead produce supermarket caricatures that have emerged from shows like Amici. By rummaging through the Italian undergrowth, you realize that Italian music, just as it wasn't dead in the '70s, isn't dead today either. You just need to know where to look.

The band we are going to analyze is called "The DusT," a group formed in 1995 in Treviso under the supervision of singer Roberto Grillo, which has only produced four works to date, all self-produced, including demos and official LPs. The continuous lineup changes from the band's inception to today have led to a clear production discontinuity, receiving very little approval from major record labels. Their first, true album (reviewed right here on Debaser), titled "Cinema Retrò," was indeed rejected by the record label Videoradio, dissatisfied with the material produced by the band. By 2010, the group had transformed into a fixed duo, composed of Grillo and guitarist Andrea Gottardi, with the aid of external musicians for live and recording sessions. Thus was born "Portrait Of A Change" (2010, self-produced), the latest effort from the Treviso band.

First of all, one must trace the origins of the sound branded by The DusT: the tribute to typically English '70s sonorities seems rather clear, with the band showcasing a certain ease with glam passages, catchy tunes, and notably more elaborate prog expressions. This is why we are talking about an incredibly heterogeneous album, catchy but, most importantly, well-played and without frills. The more commercial passages turn out to be remarkably inventive and technically well-conceived, as evidenced by the intro represented by the duo "Sunny Today/Unborn Love," a prog logic continuum with a pop-rock vein, enriched by the use of the flute in the first track, and the Hammond in the second. From there, it ranges from space-rock ("5 vs 1") to funk ("Now And Again"), to the Aerosmith-style rock represented by the rock ballad "Beauty and Love Will Save the World". "Kill the DusT" and "Metropolitan" do not stand out for inventiveness but are pleasant nonetheless.

The final two tracks, on the other hand, showcase all of the band's interesting ambitions: "Riff" is a fascinating instrumental piece almost in the style of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with bass and guitar engaging in a limitless duel, while "Open The Doors" is the beautiful twelve-minute final suite that closes the album on a high note, summarizing all the sounds dear to the band in a single piece, from the romantic to the power ballad, then unfolding into a triumph of Kansas-style strings, which anticipates the second part of the piece, decidedly softer, but it is just the calm before the storm: the third part of the suite soars with a near “crimson” tempo before closing with the initial piano loop. Listening to such music in 2010 is always a pleasure.

Unfortunately, there are certainly some sore notes: the band's choice to use the English language does not seem too fortunate, given Grillo's less than excellent pronunciation, though he does display rather high-pitched vocals, highlighting his skill. Furthermore, even though the prog passages are of excellent craftsmanship, they seem slightly frayed, but the choice is nonetheless courageous and certainly deserves praise.

For fans of Progressive and '70s style Rock, this disc might represent an astounding discovery, but in general, I would recommend this disc to anyone, given the incredible array of sounds and emotions it will gift you. For the more impatient, here are some juicy samples that testify to the album and the band's qualities.