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Rating: What I am about to tackle with this review is a long and hard work, as it surely was for those who participated in this compilation, and to them, I extend my utmost respect and recognition for all the blood shed (musical metaphor).
The story of this work began far back: almost two years ago, the Finnish magazine Colossus Project, already familiar with realizations of this type, decided to have 34 bands from all over the world revisit Dante's Inferno songs, naturally in a prog version. It took several months to finalize the lineup, which in the end turned out to be extremely heterogeneous, both in musical style and geographical origin. Groups dedicated to symphonic prog, new prog, fusion, from Japan, Argentina, Russia, Italy, France, etc. etc., set to work. Those who managed to read the guidelines at that time noted the need to adhere to very specific standards, with a duration between six and seven minutes, tracks obviously inspired by the chosen song with text strictly in the mother tongue or instrumental, dark and gothic tones, vintage and analog instrumentation, made of Hammond, monophonic synths and, as expected, loads of Mellotron and flute. As per the typical Dantean form, the volume was supposed to come out on a triple CD, but due to some bands exceeding the time limits, it was released in a quadruple box, but at a decidedly convenient cost, published by the French label Musea Records. The monumental work could not be deprived of an equally rich booklet with lyrics, translations in English, photos and components of each band, stories, plots, and more. The booklet, cover, and layout were elegantly, professionally, and very Italian-style curated by Davide Guidoni, who by now is a staple for graphics related to progressive rock and beyond, as he also participates as a drummer in a couple of tracks.
And let's talk about the sound result. The impact is decidedly epic, majestic in its developments, and truly monumental, with all the positives and negatives this adjective can carry. Of the 34 selected bands, about a third are Italian, but not all respected the guidelines regarding the mother tongue and some sing in English. The first volume opens with the Italians Nuova Era, with an aggressive track perfectly fitting the part, other tracks stand out in this volume like that of the Russians Little Tragedies or the closing one by Colossus Project led by the excellent keyboardist Alfio Costa. In my opinion, less good is the Dutch Lady Lake whose first part is too sweet and cheerful and the Italian Greenwall, very fragmented and pretentious. In the second volume, Matthijs Herder’s tracks stand out, rich yet balanced with splendid equilibrium, that of the Marchigiani Garamond, the only track of the whole bunch to direct themes toward avant-garde and RIO themes and improvisation, the Japanese Ars Nova are excellent with the usual stunning hard keyboard prog, decidedly unsuitable that of the Swedes Brightey Brison, a little jauntier and cheerful, while that of the Italian Wicked Mind is, in my opinion, the best track of the four volumes, with its themed symphony, well played, well integrated and perfectly successful, great vocal melody, and very 70s guitars. The third volume sees the Ozone Player and the Americans Advent as qualitative peaks with their very Gentle Giant style, also good are the Bresciani Notabene, while unfortunately, I find that of the Consorzio Acqua Potabile inferior, rather banal and not very thematic. The fourth volume opens with the Italians Armalite with an excellent dark and mysterious track, beautiful text, and explosive voice, beautiful finale with a solo exchange between guitar and keyboards, also good is that of De Rossi and Bordini, perhaps a little less on theme sonically are the other tracks of the volume with a point of negativity for the Corte Aulica, for a technically and compositionally excellent track, but distant from the sonic theme required by the work.
In conclusion, a product, exhausting but fully satisfying, made of prog with groups that represent a good slice of the best things released in recent years, you can hear professionalism, high-level skill in execution and composition, and, even in the sonic constraints imposed by the guidelines, everyone managed to express themselves with commitment and seriousness. Even the tracks I indicated as less successful have behind them much work and effort, anger, efforts, and results that still deserve to be rewarded.
The disc is purchasable from the Musea Records website for less than 35 Euros and overall it is worth bringing this disc home, which well represents the current times in terms of progressive rock. Obviously, in the coming years, the volumes of Purgatorio and Paradiso will follow with the same scheme.
Sorry for the length, but we are still talking about a quadruple disc and over four hours of articulated and complex music, performed by bands from 13 different countries.
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