>>> BTF NEWSLETTER >>> May 8th 2009

Welcome to the new BTF Newsletter! New VM LPs and AMS CDs plus many interesting indie and major labels CDs! Bye! BTF STAFF

PROGRESSIVE   NEW The Antonius Rex band behind the global phenomenon Switch on Dark (2006) returns for the highly anticipated PER VIAM, basedupon the esoteric compositions (2007, 2008) by Antonio Bartoccetti. Doris Norton reprises his role as keyboard player, arranger, sound engineer, sound construction and computer programming. The new incredible album (2009) once again finds that invisible forces are able to penetrate in each human being involved in a personal supernatural research by a praeternatural fusion of magic and extreme mystic experiences.The album releases a series of no rational blue-black visions, sometimes heavenly, sometimes terrifying, making each vision available to the listener for reaching the subliminal fusion. The mortals, listening to the album, get a praeternatural power and become able to live free, away from stupid, demented and alienating problems of the daily life.The guitarist Antonio Bartoccetti, as for the previous album, first wrote the video screenplay for each track, then composed the audio tracks and recorded all the album: all the work lasted 14 months. PER VIAM .... the most exceptional, fantastic, hyperbolic, mystic, progressive, dreaming, visionary, charming and terrifying Antonius Rex new album TRACK-LIST: Micro Demons 5,05 Per Viam 6,39 Woman of the King 8,52 Spectra 7,49 UFDEM 6,28 Antonius Rex Prophecy 11,14 Extra tracks CD-ROM Video Micro Demons 5,05 LINE UP: Antonio Bartoccetti: vocals, guitars Doris Norton: keyboards, vocal, digital drum, sound construction, computer Florian Gorman: acoustic drum Monika Tasnad: medium Guest: Rex Anthony: synthesizer on Per Viam, Ufdem, Antonius Rex Prophecy

PROGRESSIVE   NEW Behind the ARCHANGEL monicker hides Gabriele Manzini keyboard player and main writer for UBI MAIOR and former keyboard player for THE WATCH from 2000 till 2005. The Akallabeth is his first solo CD and it is really a special one! It is a concept album based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Numenor, a tale taken from The Silmarillion, the cosmological book of Tolkien's world. The music has been composed during the last couple of years and the lyrics are faithful to the original story. If many Tolkien-inspired recordings have been released by extreme metal bands or, on the contrary, by pastoral and sometimes soporific ensembles, there’s always been few classic rock albums inspired by the works of the creator of The Lord of the Rings. Gabriele Manzini decided to fill the hole. The twelve songs are perfect example of british classic-rock with many progressive-rock and hard-rock influences and some folk inputs. The story tells the last days of the island of Numenor and the ruinous end of the island itself. The story has many charachters and so many singers are involved in the project in order to give a greater reliability. The CD features three important guest-stars: - Damian Wilson, singer for many bands and artists of the prog-rock and prog-metal scene: Threshold, Ayreon, Rick Wakeman, Landmarq… - Zachary Stevens, singer for the sympho-metal heroes Savatage from 1993 till 2000, and now frontman of Circle II Circle - Ted Leonard, singer for the prog-rock band Enchant from USA with many acclaimed albums. Beside these special guests there are other important singers and musicians from the italian progressiverock scene: Francesca “Elayne” Naccarelli (vocals, Dunwich), Walter Gorreri (bass, Ubi Maior), Alessandro Di Caprio (drums, Ubi Maior), Stefano Mancarella (guitars, Ubi Maior), Ettore Salati (guitars, ex-The Watch), Marco Schembri (bass, ex-The Watch), Davide Martinelli (drums, Darksky) and others. The CD is produced by ARCHANGEL himself and mixed by The Watch’s producer Simone Stucchi. Released in jewel box with outside cardboard sleeve.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW In 1974 a new incarnation of Garybaldi was formed by Bambi Fossati along with old cohort Maurizio Cassinelli, bassist Roberto Ricci and indian percussionist Ramasandiran Somusundaram as Bambibanda & Melodie. Their only album has the usual leading role for Bambi's guitar, but the use of percussion gives a more latin-inspired feel that sometimes reminds Santana. Finally a well worth listening. reprint in the original cover. 180 gr. vinyl.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW The new CD from Cantina Sociale is their bravest, so far. The rich sound you liked on "Balene" has been taken to a new ground of expression. The concept deals with human discomfort and the lyrics are rich of literature references (from Pirandello to Shakespeare). A daring work! Il gruppo di Iano Nicolò, cantante degli arti & mestieri, si ripropone con il lavoro più importante ed ambizioso sino ad ora. I “Cantina Sociale” sono sicuramente una delle band band più coraggiose, nel panorama della musica progressive internazionale, nella loro costante ricerca di un sound, di uno stile autenticamente originale. Se Balene combinava immagini oniriche con le fatiche umane del vivere, Cum lux mette al centro le immagini di un disagio umano scaturito da un mondo che rasenta l’assurdo. Non sono casuali i riferimenti a Pirandello e a Shakespeare (Uno, nessuno, centomila e Sette piccoli indiani) i due autori teatrali che, anche se in luoghi ed epoche diverse e lontane tra loro, meglio rappresentano il male di vivere. In Cum lux si narra anche la metamorfosi (Goccia e Cum lux). Che cosa trasforma un uomo in bestia? Qual è il filo che lega il destino di un kamikaze a quello di un agente di borsa? Perchè morte e denaro oggi sono valori assoluti e ineluttabili? Cantina Sociale in questo CD esprime la sua vera natura: affrontare senza paure idee, concetti e sentimenti e mai come in questo concept album si sentono con chiarezza le voci di sette persone che dialogano, discutono e si confrontano, a volte in perfetto accordo, “all’unisono”, a volte scontrandosi con passione e determinazione, a volte esprimendo un desiderio di introspezione e riflessione.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW Having had a good career as lyricist, singer-songwriter Gianni D'Errico, from Brindisi, released some singles in the early seventies that went unnoticed, and an album that was released only in 1976, after his death (in September 1975, run over by a car). The LP, Antico teatro da camera, is usually considered as one of the best prog-inclined albums by solo artists, and a hard to find one! Produced by Equipe 84 leader Maurizio Vandelli (who also acted as producer for the first album by Reale Accademia di Musica), the ten tracks album has some good moments though the tracks are all in the 2-5 minutes range and contain little instrumental breaks, with the sole exception of the opening and closing short instrumental tracks called L'etrusca (part I & II).

LP > PROGRESSIVE   Back in stock!! Jacula's "Tardo pede in magiam versus" LP in a special 35th anniversary edition, digitally remastered. Track Listing: 1. U.F.D.E.M. 2. Praesentia Domini 3. Jacula Valzer 4. Absolution 5. Long Black Magic Night 6. In Old Castle

PROGRESSIVE   NEW At last available the new Malibran CD, "Trasparenze". The spirit of the band is still really progressive. The 79 minutes stand among their finest and "Trasparenze" will certainly be one of the finest italian prog rock CD of the year. Finalmente disponibile l’attesissimo nuovissimo lavoro, “Trasparenze”, lo “spirito”autenticamente progressive della “band” siciliana, guidata da Giuseppe Scaravilli. Il gruppo è dagli anni 90 uno dei più importanti e significativi del New Prog che ha riportato interesse verso uno dei generi musicali più rappresentativi a livello internazionale, del nostro paese.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW A band of very good musicians from Parma, Rocky's Filj (from the name of their leader Rocky Rossi, who came from Vicenza) gained a contract with Ricordi after a positive tour with Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, and the album was produced by Sandro Colombini, who had worked with Banco in their first albums. The album is jazz-rock oriented, but all the tracks have vocals, and Rocky's voice is very original. Instrumental parts are very well made, all the band members could professionally play various instruments and the album is always very enjoyable. The long opening track, L'ultima spiaggia, with dramatic vocals and long guitar and sax solo parts is a fine example of their music. Definetly a band that deserved more consideration, Rocky's Filj broke up soon after the album was recorded.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW The cover echoes the minimalism of the first Faust, not forgetting some assonances with the more destabilize and cosmic kraut-rock. Yet Sciarada have larger horizons, instrumental post rock among others (refer to tarentel and Labradford). Also frippianesque soundscapes and the vocal harmonies of Antonella Bertini (Compagnia d’arte drummatica, Alchemic Orchestra) contribute to enrich this daring CD.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW After the 2005 well received and critically acclaimed CD Nostos Ubi Maior release their second awaited opus called Senza tempo. It is not a proper concept album but its major influence (yet not the only one) lies on Neil Gaiman's graphic-novel masterpiece, Sandman, and on its main characters, the Endless: 7 brothers and sisters named Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Destruction and Delirium. These 7 concepts are also the starting point for the 10 songs (one is a four-parts song) included in the album. In comparison with their first work Nostos the new songs represent a remarkable step forward to a more structured writing, yet with more experimental moments. The giants of the seventies italian prog rock are not the one and only reference anymore; yet the 2009 Ubi Maior sound remains powerful, with its strong, dark and symphonic atmospheres. The themes of the lyrics give their music a haunting edge, and it’s still possible to hear echoes of Il Balletto di Bronzo and PFM but with also reference to some british progressive rock as King Crimson and Pink Floyd. The sound of the band is still vintage, heavily based on Hammond organ, mellotron and pianoforte with a hard-edge guitar lines. The italian lyrics are from time to time hopeless, introspective, dark, sacred and onyric and their aim is to develop and communicate - possibly in an original way - emotions and ideas that lie under Neil Gaiman’s concept of the Endless. Released in Digipack edition with an inner sheet for the english translation of the lyrics.

CLASSIC   NEW Nine new compositions for pianoforte by the maestro Vittorio Nocenzi (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso). The tunes are inspired by 9 esagrams from “I Ching”. “I Ching” are something esoteric and apparently accidental, also the recordings looked for the same feeling. Only three takes for each track. Vittorio adopts also a strange technique: he keeps the piano pedal pressed longer than the usual to let the listener get strange sensations, as if someone listens from the coda of the pianoforte. A great work from one of the most important italian musicians.

PROGRESSIVE   NEW A group of teenage friends, living in the deep woods outside of Oslo started Wobbler in 1999. They had one goal: To play authentic, early 70's prog rock the hard way, with all the heavy, antiquated gear that goes with it. Mellotrons, minimoogs, hammond organs, fender rhodes, tape delays etc. No instruments or effects are from after 1974. Their inspirations are: Gentle Giant, PFM, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson, Banco, Maxophone, Museo Rosenbach, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gryphon, SFF and (the Norwegian) Popol Vuh. A key to Wobbler's success is that all the members share the same vision and the same musical taste, which gives them a strong focus and identity. Although Wobbler does not play live frequently, they have managed to appear on most of the major festivals for progressive rock, mostly due to the unprecedented success of their first album "Hinterland". The high point so far has been their appearance at the 2005 NEARfest in Pennsylvania - the world's biggest prog rock festival. Four years after the debut comes the much anticipated second album, "Afterglow". A completely DIY production, it was recorded by the band and mixed by keyboardist Lars Fredrik Frøislie (also known for his work with Xploding Plastix, Shining, White Willow and In Lingua Mortua). It is a true symphonic tour de force, expanding on the complex compositions and interplay of the first album and also bringing some 70’s neo-medieval elements into the mix with crumhorns and recorders.