Detailed Reviews [Tilion - 2003 - "Insolatarimente"]

Prolusion. Unfortunately, I could not access to the Tilion website to know if "Insolatarimente" is the debut album by this Italian band or not. Nevertheless, I believe that it's their debut.

Synopsis. The album consists of eleven tracks, five of which are songs, and all of them are separated from each other by instrumental pieces. In other words, the alternation of instrumental compositions and songs is laid in the basis of this work. All five of the songs: Buio, Il Custode, Luna, Torpore Celebrate, and the 'sidelong' epic Dietro i Riccordi (2, 4, 6, 8, & 10) are similar among themselves by many stylistic and structural aspects and are about Classic Symphonic Art-Rock with either elements of Prog-Metal and the bits of Jazz-Fusion or vice versa. Of course, those of them that feature solos of saxophone, and these are Buio and Torpore Celebrate, are especially rich in elements of Jazz-Fusion. All songs, as well as the entire album, are marked with distinct signs of a high originality and tastefulness. Each of them is filled with a complete set of essential progressive features, among which complex stop-to-play movements done exclusively with the use of unusual meters and very frequent changes of a musical direction, tempo, and mood are especially evident. The vocals are great and are mostly dramatic in character. But even though all the lyrics here are in Italian, the music of Tilion, unlike that of most of the other progressive bands that came from this country, does not have an obvious Italian feel to it, which is partly because purely instrumental arrangements cover about two thirds of each of the songs here. A very solid and diverse arsenal of keyboards was used on this album, and while a piano and synthesizer are the main soloing instruments among them, the presence of Hammond and Mellotron on Buio, Luna, and Dietro i Riccordi make these compositions sound simultaneously modern and vintage. The parts of all of the soloing instruments here are masterful, and the drumming is excellently matched with everything that happens on the album. Quite quiet, yet, still intricate arrangements consisting either of the interplay between passages of piano and solos of harp or only passages of acoustic guitar are present on most of the songs here, and also on the instrumentals situated on the opening and closing tracks of the album: Prologo and Epilogo. The music on each of these compositions represents a blend of Classic Symphonic Art-Rock and Prog-Metal and is on the whole close to that on the songs. One of the instrumental pieces located 'inside' the album, Solitaria Mente, features only passages of classical guitar and angelic female vocalizes, while a few female vocals are featured in the beginning of Torpore Celebrate. Apart from Solitaria Mente, passages of acoustic guitar are also present on Dietro i Riccordi and Epilog, and those of them that, along with solos of flute, are interwoven with basic textures (on the aforementioned 16-minute epic), sound especially amazing. All three of the remaining instrumental pieces: Orrizonti Sintetizzati, Il Pensiero dal Basso, and Corale Tribale (3, 7, & 10) are somewhat of brief benefit performances for synthesizer, bass, and drums and vocoder respectively. All of them are great, but too short, so it's hard to consider them differently than intros to the songs that they lead to.

Conclusion. My conclusion will be short, yet, exhaustive. I regard Tilion's "Isolatarimente" as an hour of triumph of the Italian Progressive for the first half of 2003, though of course, I heard not all the albums released by the Italian progressive bands during this period. (Nevertheless, I believe I heard most of them.)

VM: July 8, 2003