Rovescio Della Medaglia: La Bibbia (50th Anniversary)

This is the band’s debut album from 1971 re-recorded to celebrate its 50th anniversary. At the time of its initial release they were thought of as the Italian Black Sabbath…not sure about that myself, but this new recording is rather Impressive. It’s fair to say this is big, bold, panoramic 70`s influenced Hard Rock/Prog bought bang up to date. The music at times veers from some fairly bombastic OTT riffing to quieter almost pastoral sounds with ease, perfectly illustrated on the likes of `La Creazione`. The album doesn’t necessarily display the dark chords of old school Sabbath, but rather incorporates certain Pomp Rock like flourishes on occasion.

The clever use of keyboards throughout brings an added dimension to proceedings, but it’s the guitar that ultimately drives the album. The extended instrumental passages are always inventive, and hold the listeners attention, `Sodoma XY` being the albums prime example of this, with its fluid guitar lines and demanding percussion. The stand out track on the album has to be `Il Giudizio` clocking in at nearly 8 minutes which allows the band to really get to grips with the material, running through various genres, be it Prog, Hard Rock and even a dash of AOR thrown in for good measure, it’s the perfect showcase for the bands superb musicianship.

`The Great Flood` which is effectively the album closer, is a keyboard dominated piece and therefore very grand and orchestral in nature, I can almost see the ghost of 1970`s Rick Wakeman doing his bit to this!!

The album is further bolstered by the inclusion of 3 of the album tracks now sung in English, although I found the Italian spoken word didn’t hamper my listening enjoyment at all, it could have been to get the album running time up to something like, as the original 1971 release had a running time of just 32 minutes. The production values are high throughout, and there’s clean cut sharpness to everything. This is an album that will most definitely appeal to Hard Rock and 70`s Prog fans alike.

Track Listing
1. Nothingness (Il Nulla)
2. La Creazione
3. L'Ammonimento
4. Sodoma XY
5. Il Giudizio
6. The Great Flood (Il Diluvio)
7. The Creation (CD Bonus Track - EnglishLyrics)
8. The Warning (CD Bonus Track - English Lyrics)
9. Judgement Day (CD Bonus Track - English Lyrics)

Added: January 27th 2022
Reviewer: Malcolm Smith
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
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Language: english

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