Review Summary: Great debut release from Italian prog rock newcomers.
As most fans of progressive music will be aware there is a particular sub-genre known as Rock Progressivo Italiano (RPI) which began with an explosion of progressive music in Italy in the late 60's and early 70's roughly in parallel with the emergence of mainstream British prog. Just as progressive music in general has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence over the last 10 years so has the RPI scene and there is now a steady flow of new RPI releases. Egonon are a 6-piece RPI band that are based in Venice. 'Risveglio' is their debut release and, according to the band, is intended to be the first part of a quadrilogy.
Considering that this is a debut album the quality of songwriting and musicianship on display here is impressive. Egonon seem to be able to throw nearly every instrument at their disposal into the mix, engage in frequent changes in tempo and time signature and fairly leap from one style to another but still succeed in keeping the music sounding seamless and involving. The sheer inventiveness on offer is infectiously enjoyable as the band weave through brass, string and woodwind sounds, traditional prog keyboard textures, chunky overdriven guitar riffs, jazzy sax and even North African ethnic wailing. Thankfully, in spite of all the creativity going on, the main focus of their music is nearly always the melody...and there are some really beautiful and infectious melodies littered throughout this album in abundance.The vocals, sung in Italian, may require an open mind to appreciate at first if you are not a purveyor of progressive Italian music but Fabio Calo' has a great lyrical voice and uses it almost as an extra instrument in some cases.
I am not going to do any sort of track by track summary but suffice it to say that if you like one song on here you will probably like them all. It is very consistent throughout with not one dud or filler. The production, which was undertaken by the band themselves, is excellent. It is open and spacious with each instrument easily identifiable in the mix but there is also a warm, intimate feel to the overall sound. The electric guitars in particular sound great, no crunch or fuzziness, just natural warm overdriven valve-like tones.
To give the reader an idea of what is on offer I can try and make comparisons with other music but it's rather difficult to make any solid associations because as soon as Egonon start to remotely sound like someone else they tend to change tack completely. Certain sections are reminiscent of Jethro Tull, there are moments of jazzy King Crimson, a bit of Pink Floyd and a sprinkling of Ennio Morricone. Maybe that isn't very helpful but I would urge anyone who has any sort of interest in progressive rock to check this out because if it clicks with you it's the sort of album you will cherish.
Egonon are :-
Fabio Calo' (songwriter, lyricist, vocals, piano, guitars, oud, sitar, sarangi, mellotron, percussion)
Roberto Parolin (drums)
Andrea Ghion (bass)
David Boato (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Luigi Sella (sax, clarinet)
Alvise Stiffoni (cello)
