The Class (2007)

Like many long-term relationships, Manic Street Preachers benefited from some time apart, as their seventh album, Send Away the Tigers, makes plain. Arriving on the heels of 2006 solo albums from both singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield and lyricist/bassist Nicky Wire, Send Away the Tigers finds the group recharged and revitalized, achieving the widescreen grandeur of Everything Must Go but infusing it with a harder rock edge that may not be as furious as their earliest work, but is no less committed.

Barock Project is the name of an Italian Progressive rock band, made of young but very experienced musicians. They are led by keyboardist virtuoso Luca Zabbini, who composed a concerto for piano and saxophone, a true sign of excellent musical abilities ! Their project is described by themselves, "To spread the finest and perfect structure of classic music (Mainly baroque music) with a rock style, and a little bit of jazz harmony, all supported by a pop song structure".
"Misteriose Voci" ("Misteriosevoci"), published in the year 2007 on the Musea label, fits this sentence well. Here are eleven symphonic songs, with dominating keyboards but also fine guitar parts, without mentioning a powerful rhythm section and a good singer, expressive but not too much. The influences of Emerson, Lake & Palmer is quite evident, especially in the opening track, but Barock Project has found a true identity of its own, based on strong melodies, and keyboards parts full of sensibility…