Recommend The Best Current Italian Prog

[alucard]

I saw Melting Clock this summer on a festival...classic Italian Prog, good singer, it's a bit Painting-by-numbers, exactly what you want to hear from an Italian Prog band, but they do it very good

[Crawford Glissadevil]

I saw Melting Clock this summer on a festival...classic Italian Prog, good singer, it's a bit Painting-by-numbers, exactly what you want to hear from an Italian Prog band, but they do it very good

Melting Clock's debut album was my favorite Italian prog of 2019. Auto-buy for Melting Clock's sophomore sonic effort.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Well, l just finished the new Alphataurus.

**Possible spoilers ahead**

"2084: Viaggio nel nulla". First impression is mostly disappointment. It mostly lives up to the title. My glib one sentence review would be "Alphataurus discovers AOR and 80s neo-prog."
Which is fine, l suppose. Not what l expected. Everyone's chops are fine, especially some fine guitar work. Production is excellent. The first three tracks fit the AOR/Neo mold pretty tightly for me. Things pick up in tracks 4 and 5; a bit more proggy, and reminded me of Demon of all things (The Plague and British Standard Approved-era; for me that is a positive). Last track strikes an elegiac, melancholy tone and is nice. I assume it is wrapping up the concept but without the benefit of lyrical impact the album just kind of peters out.
If you played this for me cold and told me it came out in 1984 l would believe you.
I mean, it is a perfectly fine record and l may have overloaded it with expectation, and others will find plenty to like here but it didn't deliver what l wanted. For me this wasn't a "Wow, is it over already" album but a "When is it gonna be over".
I have to go listen to Attosecondo now. I had hoped for a worthy successor to that great album.

[Crystal Plumage]

Thanks for this. Mine is on its way. Will see if I like it. The album is on the AMS Bandcamp, but I have not yet listened to it. Want to go in unprepared (although you have prepared me somewhat )

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Thanks for this. Mine is on its way. Will see if I like it. The album is on the AMS Bandcamp, but I have not yet listened to it. Want to go in unprepared (although you have prepared me somewhat )

You know, l should apologize for that. In these days of instant access to things, reviews can kind of spoil it for anyone waiting to spin the physical product. I should have put a spoiler alert at the beginning. Which l can now, come to think of it.

And also of course my opinion is just that. Others may hear it differently and say l am nuts.

[Splicer]

Just listened to the new Alphataurus album, 2084: Viaggio nel Nulla. Nothing groundbreaking but quite enjoyable.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Just listened to the new Alphataurus album, 2084: Viaggio nel Nulla. Nothing groundbreaking but quite enjoyable.

I just looked at the Bandcamp listing for this album and it says the guitarist (one of the two original members) quit upon completion of this album. I wonder what the story is there.

(And in my kindergarten Italian l translated the title as "Trip To Nowhere" - they have it as "Journey Into Nowhere")

[Digital_Man]

Just listened to the new Alphataurus album, 2084: Viaggio nel Nulla. Nothing groundbreaking but quite enjoyable.

I don't think you're likely to hear anything groundbreaking within the RPI genre anymore. It's kind of the same with modern symph prog and RPI (which isn't the same as Italian Prog) is basically Italian symph prog (more or less).

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

In the context of RPI and Italian prog l am not sure what groundbreaking even means. Hardcore followers might say that nothing groundbreaking came out after, say, 1976.
With that in mind looking all the way back to 2012, Alphataurus' second release was absolutely solid, a stone's throw away from their debut. Cherry Five's album released the same year is terrific.
A little further back and into the near past, Accordo Dei Contrari has managed to evoke classic Italian prog while putting a spin on it which is unique to them.
The album 2973: La Nemica Dei Ricordi by Spettri from 2015 (previously mentioned), for me is an absolute stunner, a head-spinning masterpiece. To my ears it is the equal of anything that came out 50 years ago.
More recently, last year's new Il Balletto was a more than decent effort, and the new Semiramis is great, which was a huge surprise.
So no, l don't know if there has been any ground left to break in the past few decades but there are new artists, as well as bands from the "golden age" (albeit with varying numbers of original members) that continue to make worthy contributions to the genre. I don't keep up with Banco or PFM, they could be making great new music too for all l know.
And even though the new Alphataurus didn't live up to my (unreasonable?) expectations, l do like the last half of it, and l am happy that it exists. Better than not having it at all.

[TheH]

I just looked at the Bandcamp listing for this album and it says the guitarist (one of the two original members) quit upon completion of this album. I wonder what the story is there.

(And in my kindergarten Italian l translated the title as "Trip To Nowhere" - they have it as "Journey Into Nowhere")

Story is rather dramatic as he died shortly after the recordings...

The new vocalist was in a Prog Metal band before: Evil Wings (I believe I have one of their albums)

[jefftiger]

...and l am happy that it exists. Better than not having it at all.

I agree with your post and I have the same impression of this new Alphataurus album. We're now 50+ years since the beginning of the Italian prog era and it's great that bands with some of the remaining members are still making an effort to produce new music. Banco was the group that was my entry into this genre in the very early 1980s and PFM was another that I discovered soon afterwards. I no longer really follow Banco: other than Vittorio, there aren't any original members left. PFM has continued to surprise me (in a good way), with their last few albums being very nice efforts.