Review Summary: Italo prog in the classic vein, made by young musicians.
“La Crudelta Di Aprile” is the debut studio album of Unreal City that was released in 2013. The line up is Francesca Zanetta, Emanuele Tarasconi, Francesco Orefice and Federico Bedostri. It also had the presence of Fabio Biale.
Unreal City was born in Parma in 2008. The two founders, Emanuele Tarasconi and Francesca Zanetta, met to create a complex and challenging project with the classic sound of the prog of the 70’s in a modern mood, trying not to simulate but to magnify the vintage and typical side of that period. The band, whose name comes from the founders’ common passion for “The Waste Land” of T.S. Eliot began to play live. In 2012 the band published their first EP, “Unreal City”, with three songs with lyrics in English. In 2013 Unreal City released their first studio album, “La Crudelta Di Aprile”.
The first EP of Unreal City caught the attention of Fabio Zuffanti. Due to that, Fabio decided to produce “La Crudelta Di Aprile”. As many of us know, Zuffanti is a name very well known in the Italian prog scene. He created many several Italian progressive rock projects like Finisterre, Hostsonaten, IaZona, La Maschera Di Cera, Quadrophonic, Rohmer, Aries, Buc-Ur and R.u.g.h.e, besides his musical career as a solo artist and other participations in some other projects.
“La Crudelta Di Aprile” soon became one of the best progressive rock albums from Italy and one of the most acclaimed prog works of 2013. Unreal City performed on many great stages. In 2015 Unreal City’s second album “Il Paese Del Tramonto” was released and the band spent 2015 and 2016 touring across Europe and Canada to promote their album. In 2017, Unreal City released their third and last studio album, till now, with the title “Frammenti Notturni”.
Unreal City is above an average band, not only for the articulated plots, but also for the attention paid to the lyrics of intense depth. They’re beautiful and not trivial with literary references that evoke the great tradition of the cultured and committed prog. A proposal that has its roots in the past but at the same time knows how to make current in numerous passages. The four members have their musical heroes of reference but the lesson has been reworked with a strong personality. The result is a direct consequence of the attention paid to the lyrics, with the predominance of keyboards of all kinds that know how to create the atmosphere more suited to what is described by the singing, really.
“La Crudelta Di Aprile” highlights the undoubted talent of Unreal City, a band that promises a lot for the future. The album faithfully follows the atmospheres, albeit filtered with modern sensitivity, of some mythical Italian prog bands such as Locanda Delle Fate, Quella Vecchia Locanda and Il Balletto Di Bronzo. The Unreal City shows that they have an excellent feeling with the genre by creating an impressive and emphatic symphonic prog with great instrumentation.
“Dell’Innocenza Perduta” has a rhythm tight, fanned by Hammond and Moog and only when Tarasconi’s subtle singing takes over, does the music calm down, emphasizing the piano. There is also room for a short guitar solo and a beautiful violin insert. “Atlantis (Conferendis Pecuniis)” starts with vintage keyboards, including the harpsichord. Also excellent here is the ending with the bass to mark the drama of the fall of the great civilization of Atlantis. “Catabasi (Descensio Ad Inferos)” has a Gothic introduction with a declamatory voice, blood riffs, pressing and slightly disturbing rhythms and a fine lyricism in the last verses. “Dove La Luce È Più Intensa” benefits from a long instrumental digression that allows us to appreciate also the important rhythmic work in the all economy of the piece. “Ecate (Walpurgisnacht)” continues with the golden dark feel which is another of the common threads of “La Crudelta Di Aprile”, which the valuable lyrics remind us once again. The album ends with “Horror Vacui”, a suite with over 17 minutes. The suite is divided into four sections, two of which are instrumental. Once again the keyboards reign, with ever-changing sounds. Tarasconi’s singing is also fully convinced, even if it’s probably in the third instrumental part of the suite, “Nel Sonno Della Ragione” that the suite reaches the climax of pathos and drama with some great quality of the solo interventions.
Conclusion: “La Crudelta Di Aprile” is a superb high-end symphonic progressive rock album that combines power, melody and liveliness in an endless farandole. The very diverse and analog keyboards lead the dance and the bass gives roundness and mellowness to the whole for an Italian progressive worthy of the great alumni of the 70’s. The compositions are excellent, very full with intelligent and surprising breaks which keep the interest as the jazzy or hard rock forays which spice up the whole. The album has also an originality, their guitarist, Francesca Zanetta, a musician who delivers us beautiful guitar parts, a female presence that I would like to have more frequently in other bands in the future. So, Unreal City can rival the biggest names in the Italian progressive rock scene, past and present. They have a haunting quality in their music, filled with melancholy, sorrow and hope. This is another great Italian progressive work.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
