Il Segno del Comando: Il Volto Verde

For fans of Italian Prog-Gloomers Il Segno del Comando the wait for their third album has been a long one, eleven years having passed since we last sampled their music. Il Volto Verde finds them in uncompromising mood, a full on histrionic Prog of darkness appearing at full throttle and stubbornly refusing to temper its attack from start to finish. In the process the all or nothingness of the approach becomes not only one of the main strengths of the album, but also its main stumbling block. For while the clash of hi-hats, thrumming bass, layers of vocals and slashes of guitar initially impress, by the time you've ventured forth across twelve similarly constructed romps the impact has been lessened to a great extent.

Vocally Maethelyiah could also be seen as something of an acquired taste and one I have to admit that doesn't really get me salivating at the prospect; her high pitched warble grating and jarring, although it does, to be fair, fit the dynamics of the music. There's a huge amount of skill involved in the construction of this album and if deep, dark, but yet still extremely traditional Italian Prog is something of interest then I'd suggest that this is a release you should take note of, although with the caveat that certain aspects (outlined above) may prove standoffish for some. The subject matter of the album is just as involved as the music it is presented through, Il Volto Verde being based on the 1916 novel The Green Face, set as it is, in a surreal World War I Amsterdam. The instrumental passages convey the themes and slight bizarreness of the subject matter well, the tendency to thread unusual elements through everything from Funky guitar strikes to classically inspired sections, full on Rock and the Progressive undercurrent which runs across all of the themes, creating a heady mix. Sometimes too heady.

I have to be honest and say that what Il Segno del Comando have crafted here is a classy album that simply doesn't quite click with me and I've no doubt that others will derive far more from the enthusiastically attacked ideas. In a way, every time I listen to this album I have a nagging feeling that I should be discovering more joy and excitement than I've ever quite unearthed. For me a less theatric vocal style and a little more variation in dynamics would have taken an interesting album and made it a truly engaging one. Something that hand on heart I can't quite tell you I found it to be.

Track Listing
1. Echi dall'Ignoto
2. La Bottega delle Meraviglie
3. Chidher il Verde
4. Trenodia delle Dolci Parole
5. Il Rituale
6. La Congrega dello Zee Dyk
7. Il Manoscritto
8. L'Evocazione di Eva
9. Retrospettiva di un Amore
10. Usibepu
11. L'Apocalisse
12. Epilogo

Added: June 4th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Il Segno del Comando on facebook
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Language: english

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