il Bacio Della Medusa

Il Bacio Della Medusa (Medusa's Kiss) is a contemporary Italian group. The members Diego Petrini, Federico Caprai and Simone Cecchini founded it in 2002. The group consists of Simone Cecchini (vocals, acoustic guitar, saxophone), Simone Brozzetti (electric guitar), Federico Caprai (bass), Diego Petrini (drums, organ, piano), Eva Morelli (flute, piccolo) and Daniele Rinchi (violin). The music is very much in the seventies Italian tradition. Of the seventies Italian scene there is similarities to groups such as Premiata Forneria Marconi but even more to the hard rocking groups like Osanna and De De Lind. Their debut album was released in 2004. The music in this album can be considered art-rock. The keyboards are used sparingly but the sound is still refined due to the successful use of flute, saxophone and accordion…

"Deus Lo Vult" is the third album by Il Bacio della Medusa, a band from Perugia that was formed in 2002. It was self-released in 2012 with the help of Glare Art Communication and features a beautiful packaging with an art work by Licia Marino mixing photographs and drawings. Violinist Daniele Rinchi left the band after the excellent second album and now the line up is reduced to a quintet featuring Simone Cecchini (vocals, acoustic guitar, harp), Diego Petrini (drums, percussion, mellotron, organ), Federico Caprai (bass), Simone Brozzetti (electric guitar) and Eva Morelli (flute, sax, theremin). The final result is magnificent…

Among the names that no Italian prog enthusiast can do without we undoubtedly have the legendary Dalton, a band that in the early ’70s left an indelible mark with the LP’s “Riflessioni: Idea d’Infinito” and “Argitari”. Their voice, guitar and one of the main composers was – and still is – Aronne Cereda, author of the recent “Memories” published by AMS Records in September 2017. In “Eden”, alongside the songwriting, folk and Celtic sides already present in “Memories”, echoes of ’70s progressive rock come back, unmistakably: an indelible sign of an era, that only those who have lived those years in first person can faithfully bring back to life; in particular, the songs “Giardino dell’Eden” and “La forza di Dio” will delight those who never forgot about Dalton, and still listen to their first two LP’s regularly.

Presented on TWO DVD's is footage from the 2019 edition of Italy's Veruno Prog Festival. Participating bands included Iron Butterfly, Caravan, Arena, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Lazuli, Alan Simon's Excalibur, Acqua Fragile and others.

Ornithos is one of the most pleasent and solid prog rock bands coming from Italy in last years. With members from another well known prog band from Italy Il Bacio Della Medusa, Ornithos manage to create a very enjoyble and full of memorable passages. La Trasfigurazione is a diverse record, more adventurous even with a looser sound which touches on jazz, heavy rock, prog, the occasional 60's psych flavour and mellower acoustic touches. It's an album more in favour of extended instrumental workouts than vocal led parts, effective though they are when present. You can imagine in a live setting these songs going on indefinitely as the band jam away. As expected the musicianship is excellent and the diverse and constantly shifting nature of the thirteen compositions make for a captivating listen, the sum of the whole better than individual pieces.