Verbal Delirium Conundrum (2022){bem097}

Verbal Delirium is a unique progressive rock band from Greece that has been around since the mid-2000s. This is their 4th album and it is fantastic. A whirlwiond of different styles and influences blended into a totally unique musical experience. Although certainly Prog in its attitude, they combine many disparate elements (often within the same song), including pop, rock, jazz, soul, musical theater, and metal into their prog. The core of the band is Jargon (John Kosmidis), as primary composer, vocalist, and keybaordist, George 'K' Kyriakidis (guitars), and Nikolas Nikolopoulos (flute, saxophone, Mellotron). The title track is a whirling dervish of an instrumental having a convoluted Klezmer-esque feel, constantly moving and shifting into a sort of ELP meets Steely Dan exercise.

Created at the dawn of the Third Millenium, Verbal Delirium is a Progressive rock band from Greece. This trio, made of Jargon (Compositions, vocals & keyboards), Nikitas Kissnas (Guitar) and Nik Michailidis (Bass), plus a cello player and a drummer. "So Close And Yet So Far Away" (2010) is collection of ten melodic songs and instrumental pieces brilliantly played and produced, somewhere between Progressive rock and hard-rock. The (English) lyrics are briillantly performed, and the music isvery dynamic, with a wide range of influences. That includes Peter Hammill, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Camel, Porcupine Tree… Verbal Delirium combines powerful and sometimes heavy guitars, intense singing, strong melodies, and symphonic keyboards, in a pleasant and promising manner…

Delirium is an important band in the history of Italian progressive rock music, having been active since 1970. They originally formed in Genoa during the late 1960s as I Sagittari and their line-up consisted of Ettore Vigo (keyboards), Peppino Di Santo (drums, vocals), Mimmo Di Martino (acoustic guitar) and Marcello Reale (bass). The later arrival of Ivano Fossati (vocals, keyboards, flute) completed the band, whose early musical style was a mix of the so-called Italian melodic tradition and UK progressive influences, in particular King Crimson and Colosseum.
Their first album, the rough-hewn ''Dolce Acqua'' (1971), was one of the earliest Italian progressive albums and is a conceptual suite with each of its eight movements being based on different human emotions…