1
OK

Při poskytování služeb nám pomáhají soubory cookie. Používáním našich služeb vyjadřujete souhlas s naším používáním souborů cookie. Více informací

Úvodní stránka » ARCHIVE » La Maschera Di Cera
La Maschera Di Cera — Le porte del domani (2013)

 La Maschera Di Cera — Le porte del domani (2013)

La Maschera Di Cera — Le porte del domani
Location: Genova, Bologna, Ortona, Livorno, Italy
Album release: 2013
Record Label: BTF / AMS
Duration:     45:17
Tracks:
1. Ritorno Dal Nulla      (8:40)
2. La Guerra Dei Mille Anni      (4:30)
3. Ritratto Di Lui      (2:50)
4. L'enorme Abisso      (5:47)
5. Ritratto Di Lei      (4:49)
6. Viaggio Metafisico      (3:44)
7. Alba Nel Tempio      (4:24)
8. Luce Sui Due Mondi      (5:12)
9. Alle Porte Del Domani      (5:21)
CREDITS:
•  Alessandro Corvaglia / leas vocals, acoustic, 12-string & electric guitars
•  Mau Di Tollo / drums, spring drums, chimes, shaker, cymbals, timpani, zen bells, tambura, congas, marching snare drum, occasional mellotron on 1, backing vocals
•  Agostino Macor / grand & Fender Rhodes pianos, Hammond & Crumar organs, mellotron, birotron, chamberlin,Mini-Moog, synthesizers, corvaglizer, mandolin, bells
•  Andrea Monetti / flute
•  Fabio Zuffanti / bass, bass pedals, bells
Guests:
•  Martin Grice / flute on 1, 2 & 8, sax on 4
•  Laura Marsano / electric lead guitar on 4, 6 & 7
Website: http://mascheradicera.wordpress.com/
Press:
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mascheradicera
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mascheradicera?fref=ts
Fabio Zuffanti: https://www.facebook.com/fabiozuffanti
REVIEW
Posted por Diego Camargo às 11:57
Score: ***½
•  Thoughts: Fabio Zuffanti has always been bold in his projects. But this time he went very high! The new La Maschera Di Cera album, Le Porte Del Domani (2013) is not just big by having an English version too (The Gates Of Tomorrow) but also by shooting really high in the Prog World.
•  I can’t review Le Porte Del Domani (2013) without going into the original story.
Exactly forty years ago one of the biggest Italian bands, Le Orme, released their masterpiece called Felona E Sorona (1973). That album is still named as one of the finest Prog Rock albums, not only from Italy, but worldwide.
•  Felona E Sorona (1973) is a conceptual album with a story of two planets which revolve one around the other, without ever coming in contact. One planet’s called Felona and it is shiny and flourishing, the other planet is called Sorona and it is dark and home to all kinds of bad things. Then on the second part of the album/concept the fate of the two planets is inverted.
•  The original concept was left unresolved at the end of the album so, forty years later Fabio Zuffanti (bass & writer), Alessandro Corvaglia (vocals and 12 string acoustic guitars), Maurizio Di Tollo (drums and percussions), Agostino Macor (keyboards) and Andrea Monetti (flutes) decided to continue that story.
•  I did play both albums back to back and I have to say that this is quite an experience. Not that Le Porte Del Domani (2013) is an exact continuation in terms of sound, cause it is not. After forty years, of course, things change, especially in the ‘kitchen’.
•  To me the drums sound in Le Porte Del Domani (2013) is a bit poor and the bass sound is absolutely out of place, especially after listening to Aldo Tagliapietra’s bass in the original Felona E Sorona (1973).
•  For the listener’s luck Fabio Zuffanti is a great composer and he keeps the same line of the original album with memorable melodies.
•  Two names must be mentioned here, Agostino Macor and Andrea Monetti. Agostino plays some awesome synths and keyboards while Andrea makes La Maschera Di Cera have a unique sound with his flutes.
•  Le Porte Del Domani (2013) couldn’t start better. ‘Ritorno Dal Nulla’ makes you remember Felona E Sorona (1973) immediately. ‘La Guerra Dei Mille Anni’ brings the acoustic sound of both bands and then we have a new album and a new band, not just a Le Orme’s copy. Smart move!
•  ‘Ritrato Di Lui’ is more like a big intro for ‘L’Enorme Abisso’, and then things turn out to be better and better.
•  ‘L’Enorme Abisso’ has the kind of synths that make every Prog lover jump and even shake their head. Again, the drums are the flaw in terms of sound. Cause Maurizion Di Tollo can drum, that’s for sure. But the recording doesn’t help. A pity cause this is a fabulous track!
•   ’Ritratto Di Lei’ opens the second part of Le Porte Del Domani (2013) as a mini intro and is followed by ‘Viaggio Metafisico’ and it’s not quite what I expected. Drums once again on a lower level of sound. ‘Alba Nel Tempio’ follows the same path but ‘Luce Sui Due Mondi’ returns to the Folk sound with a high symphonic edge.
•  ‘Alle Porte Del Domani’ closes the album with a hard rock feeling. But a weird one, full of flutes. A completely Space Rock journey as the story asks for.
•  I didn’t really listen carefully to The Gates Of Tomorrow (2013) (the English version), cause I think Italian is a beautiful language to listen to so I cannot say a thing about that album. What I can say is that Le Porte Del Domani (2013) is a bold attempt of a hard working guy (Fabio Zuffanti), the bar was settled very high and La Maschera Di Cera almost did it!
•  It’s just a pity that the album drums sound is not that good, that would make Le Porte Del Domani (2013) go really high in my chart.
Fortaken: http://www.progshine.net/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
BTF Vinyl Magic
•  La Maschera Di Cera ha pubblicato il suo primo album esattamente dieci anni fa, nel 2002, un omaggio a certo prog italiano degli Anni Settanta che però ha sempre messo in primo piano l'aspetto compositivo, riuscendo nel difficile tentativo di creare qualcosa che ha radici nel passato ma allo stesso tempo è personale, inventivo e passionale. In questo risiede l’originalità del ‘suono MDC’.
•  La Maschera Di Cera chiude oggi il cerchio proponendo un album che è l'apoteosi e summa di tutto il discorso legato all’omaggio al progressive italiano: il gruppo ha infatti deciso di continuare la saga dei due pianeti di “Felona e Sorona” (Le Orme, 1973), disco riconosciuto come un capolavoro assoluto e uno dei capisaldi del prog mondiale.
•  Il gruppo qui si mette completamente in gioco, provando a fare ciò che nessuno ha mai fatto prima, attualizzando un discorso iniziato quarant'anni fa e che ancora offre spunti artistici sui quali riflettere. Il concept originario è infatti una storia universale di diversità e ineguaglianza rimasta - forse volutamente? - irrisolta alla fine del disco, lasciando così lo spazio ad una ispirata continuazione e conclusione, realizzata chiaramente nell'ottica della Maschera Di Cera.
•  Il concept, una suite di 45' divisa in nove capitoli, affronta la lotta tra i due pianeti, uno luminoso e l'altro buio. Lotta che si risolverà grazie a due amanti provenienti dai due mondi e all'intervento ultraterreno della divinità che li protegge. La copertina del disco è stata curata personalmente da Lanfranco, il pittore che creò il dipinto originale di “Felona e Sorona” e che ha messo gentilmente a disposizione del gruppo la sua opera del 1968 “Gli amanti del sogno”.
•  “Le Porte del Domani” esce su AMS Records in CD in edizione e italiana e inglese (questa con un missaggio leggermente diverso), in LP, e in uno speciale box contenente la litografia su plexiglass del dipinto e tutte le versioni di CD e LP.
:::
•  More than ten years ago, in 2002, La Maschera di Cera released their first album, a record with an evident homage to the classic Italian Progressive Rock of the ‘70s, always taking care of the songwriting, managing the difficult task of creating something that has its roots in the past but it's personal, inventive and passionate at the same time. Here lies the originality of the MDC-sound.
•  After a decade, four successful albums and concerts played all around the globe, La Maschera di Cera close the circle proposing an album that is the sum of all the Italian Prog homage matter. The band has in fact decided to write the continuation of the “Felona and Sorona” concept (Le Orme, 1973), a record that is unanimously considered a masterpiece, as well as a milestone in the world progressive rock scene.
•  What pushed the group to dive into an adventure that offers great satisfaction on one hand, but can also be rugged and full of unexpected surprises and criticism on the other, is simply the desire to get involved, to try to do what no one has never done before, to actualize a discourse that began forty years ago and still offers artistic ideas to think about. The original concept is in fact a universal story of diversity and inequality that stays – perhaps on purpose? - unresolved at the end of the LP, thus leaving space for an inspired continuation and conclusion, clearly filtered through MDC's point of view.
•  Musically, the band deepen their relationship with vintage sounds, but bring everything to a more actualized dimension, while lyrically the concept addresses the struggle between the two planets, one light and one dark; a fight that will only be resolved by two lovers from the two different worlds and by the otherworldly intervention of the deity that protects them.
•  “Le Porte del Domani” (The Doors of Tomorrow) contains a 45-minute suite in nine parts and is released by AMS Records. The cover artwork has been made by Lanfranco, the same author of the original “Felona and Sorona” painting and who kindly gave the band the permission to use his 1968 opus “Gli Amanti del Sogno” (The Dream’s Lovers).
•  “Le Porte del Domani" is printed on CD in two different Italian and English versions (the second has also a slightly different mix), on LP, and as a special box containing a litography on plexiglass of Lanfranco’s cover painting, the LP and both CD versions.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

La Maschera Di Cera — Le porte del domani (2013)

 

NEWS

17.7.2019

Derek Senn — How Could a Man

13.7.2019

Tycho — Weather

9.7.2019

Only Yours

8.7.2019

Peter Cat Recording Co.

archiv

ALBUM COVERS X.

Arc Iris — Icon of Ego (Oct. 12, 2018)
Tais Awards & Harvest Prize
Za Zelenou liškou 140 00 Praha 4, CZE
+420608841540