Detailed Reviews [La Zona - 2003 - "Le Notti Difficuli"]

Prolusion. "Le Notti Difficuli" is the debut album by the Italian band La Zona.

Synopsis. "Le Notti Difficuli" is an all-instrumental album featuring four long compositions. Taking their inspiration from the music of Pink Floyd, the members of La Zona took the slowest and darkest structures and changed them beyond recognition. Finally, they raised all of that to the power of genuine originality, which is certainly their own. As a result, there is not one unoriginal theme on this album, not to mention any cliches. Although the arrangements here are mostly slow and very slow, they are in the state of constant development throughout the album and are just filled with mystery and hypnotism. The stylistics of the 'boundary' tracks of the album: Solitudini and Equivalenza is an original Space-Fusion with elements of Ambient and Electronic Rock. A really unique combination of Symphonic Space Rock, Space Metal, and Jazz-Fusion is presented on the core (by all means core) tracks of the album: the 10-minute Il Babau and the 15-minute Il Sogno Della Scala. Here, the music is especially inventive and is pronouncedly dramatic in character. Each of the band members weaves his special web of solos easily, yet, truly purposefully, though at the same time, like being laid back from all the surrounding musical events. The active use of Mellotron on the longest composition on the album gives it a truly epic sound and, moreover, rich in symphonic colors and shades. The improvised solos of trombone, fluid passages of synthesizer, and both of the real and echoed solos of guitar are at the forefront of the arrangements on the album, and the parts of a brass instrument sound in this music especially unexpected and amazing.

Conclusion. Listen to this album with headphones, and cosmic winds will carry you to a distant, mysterious and somber, yet, incredibly attractive world full of wonderful and absolutely unpredictable events. This slowly moving music is very imaginative and arouses fairly vivid visual impressions changing with every successive listening.

VM: May 29, 2003