Wicked Minds
Witchflower

I buy the CD on e-bay...

It arrives shortly after...

I quickly unwrap the package and insert the CD into the player...

I press the play button...

I faint!!!!!

I wake up... but not here, that is, not in this time... but in the golden years... the mythical, fabulous, crazy, evocative 70s!!!!! and I realize that I haven't fainted at all... in fact, I'm wide awake, but it was the music that made me take a lightning-fast journey back to those beautiful and magical years!!

The Italian Wicked Minds, active since way back in 1987, have this effect and according to the guitarist Lucio Calegari, in the early days, they were a band quite far from the musical glories they have reached today: influenced by the music of the time, the Bay Area thrash metal, they started interpreting that movement in their own way... but after a while, maybe tired of what they were playing or perhaps due to age, hehe, they changed direction towards something more enduring and deep (without taking anything away from a genre like thrash)... ending up playing what they offer today, a sort of hard-prog-psych-rock very 70s, influenced by the great icons of the 70s (Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Uriah Heep, Blue Oyster Cult, etc. etc.)... this is the band's third work after the spectacular "From the Purple Skies" and the first, unfindable on CD except on LP, "Returne to Uranus."

I analyze piece by piece the album, to make you understand what I felt during my journey and which shady characters I encountered:

1 - THROUGH MY LOVE - The album kicks off with the beautiful and gripping "Through My Love"; it takes the lessons of Deep Purple and transports them to the present day... an intense rhythm and Hammond organ in the foreground, a chilly and lively voice... you can't stop tapping that foot under the table!! haha!!

2 - WITCHFLOWER - The title track follows... starting with just voice and Hammond before giving way to the subsequent fiery explosion. The central prog interlude and the subsequent space opening are beautiful, reminding me a lot of the great Uriah Heep.

3 - A CHILD AND A MIRROR - And we come to the first more structured and special song. Starting similar to the previous one but with only Hammond, then leaving space for an otherworldly piano with strong medieval derivation... gives goosebumps!! The voice enters, romantic and seductive, as only singers from bygone days know how to produce. The song continues in a constant up and down of emotions... with a chorus that rises in intensity in an absurd way; as stated before, this piece is one of the most particular, and this is thanks to a central part that changes the atmosphere established so far quite a bit, veering between prog and hard. The conclusion returns to the initial grandeur with an almost epic and engaging finale... with synths in the foreground (note that keyboards play a vital role in the band's economy).

4 - HERE COMES THE KING - here is the most Black Sabbath-like song of the album!! starting off with a bang, and the feet under the chair start moving inexorably again... hehe... there’s also space for an intermezzo that brought to mind the acrobatic prog of seminal acts such as PFM and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso; with synths on display creating a wall of sound hard to scratch!

5 - BEFORE THE MOURNING LIGHT - this track is perhaps one of the most spatial the group in question has composed... starting with a lysergic synth and as mentioned, spatial to give space (pardon the pun), in the continuation, to an unpredictable change of tone that sets the atmosphere ablaze; spine-tingling central interlude where keyboards once again paint the psychedelic and spatial scenarios of the beginning and the voice lights up singing one of the most passionate interpretations of this album then explode and blaze again in the finale!! 8 minutes of bliss!!

6 - BURNING TREE - after so much fire, comes the water to extinguish it all, making room for another kind of fire, warmer and more enveloping, the fire of passion!! burning tree... a poignant and delicate ballad that reminded me not a little of that masterpiece known as "Stairway To Heaven"... beautiful intervention of flute and synths...

7 - SHADOWS' TRAIN - back to the fiery atmospheres of the first piece: captivating and enveloping... summed up in one word: INSTINCT!! almost naive in its structure; with an accompanying 'solo' of final Hammond... TERRIFYING!!

8 - BLACK CAPRICORN FIRE - does the name Jethro Tull tell you something?? Well... in this piece, they are paid a significant homage, but do not think of it as mere imitation, nothing could be more wrong! After the initial duet between flute and Hammond, it continues with cadenced rhythms and breathtaking choruses; around the midpoint (the track lasts a whopping 8 minutes) the atmosphere changes, the rhythms slow down and it all becomes enveloping and a lysergic journey... very Pink Floydian... the finale is stunning, epic and majestic!!

9 - THE COURT OF THE SATYR - instrumental interlude for solo acoustic guitar; dreamlike and dreamy that prepares for the next two suites that will soon come to shatter the tranquility.

10 - SAD WOMAN - and now we come to the album's finale, composed of two stunning suites: the first is this "Sad Woman", majestic and psychedelic... the chorus literally leaves you breathless and makes you want to turn up the volume as high as possible to feel all the vibrations it emits!! fantastic!! halfway through, the atmosphere changes and the journey begins!! tribal percussions, lysergic keyboards and a compelling crescendo that culminates in the final explosion that rises, up to infinity, then collapses and leads to the last piece.

11 - SCORPIO ODISSEY - the worthy conclusion of the album! a breathtaking suite of 14 minutes... it appears as an eternal ascent towards something higher and unreachable, psychedelic, melancholic, and in some passages, dark; it rises to infinity, reaching the heart that is pierced in the final part!! CHILLS!!!! after 10 minutes of ascents and descents, the atmosphere stops and only a synth remains to draw a rather Sabbath-like melody in its theatricality and spectral nature, then giving way, always with the same riff to the grand re-entry of the entire orchestra of instruments plus the addition of a stunning sax that performs spins and more ascents and ascents! until the final collapse... only the echo remains... and everything fades... the journey is over... no... not yet...

12 - SOLDIER OF FORTUNE - as you've probably guessed, it's the famed cover of the great Deep Purple. Moving and beautiful like the original version... and there was no better way to conclude this journey...

At this point, Wicked Minds take you by the hand and lead you out of the album, whispering "THANK YOU FOR COMING AND GOOD LUCK"...

Thank you for gifting us with such a beautiful, timeless journey!!