Recensione
dal sito jerrylucky.com
in lingua inglese
There is an on-going debate in the world of prog regarding the use of lyrics. Some believe that lyrics only get in the way of the music, and if they’re lyrics you don’t understand that makes it even worse. These people love their prog to be strictly instrumental. So I’m quite sure these people will thoroughly enjoy the music of Gran Torino and their first set of tunes called grantorinoProg. This Italian quartet started out as many young bands playing their favorites; in this case it was the music of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. It wasn’t long however before Cristiano Pallaoro (guitars), Alessio Pieri (keyboards), Gian Maria Roveda (drums) and Fabrizio Visentini Visas (bass) decided they wanted to make their own music; music that allowed them to pay homage to their influences but also allow them to express their musical training. Thus their new CD was born.
There are ten tracks on grantorinoProg, most of them in-and-around five-minutes in length. The music is at once reminiscent of bands such as Edhels, fast and furious one moment, soft and delicate the next, infused with more than a hint of jazz sensibility but built on a solid prog-rock foundation. These tunes most of them quite up-tempo, exude an excitement from the very first notes. As you might expect it’s a busy music, with lots of notes flying here-and-there and yet they’ve crafted these compositions in such a way that it never gets out of hand. You never lose focus of the song. The member’s musicianship is on display as guitar and keyboards are constantly playing off each other. Songs will stop and turn on a dime where each member is focusing on their own thing then it all comes together as they weave a heavy riff building in intensity as it repeats. One of the things I really liked was that while it might get a bit heavy once in a while the music never veered into the prog-metal area. The other thing is, and I suppose it’s to be expected in an instrumental outfit; where the instruments are replacing any vocal lines, what stands out is that these are four individual members each playing a lead line. What’s quite magical is how they put it all together and never step on each other’s toes.
The music of Gran Torino is very bright and up-beat. You sense these guys are having a blast. The band indicates their prog influences include bands such as Genesis, Kansas, King Crimson, PFM, Area and even Spock’s Beard but these influences are certainly well infused and don’t really come to the fore. I’m quite convinced if you enjoy any form of jazz or fusion influenced instrumental prog this is a CD you’re going to love. This is a really enjoyable disc and as a first effort speaks well for Gran Torino’s future music.
