Hollowscene — Hollowscene
Formed by guitarist Andrea Massimo and keyboard wizard Lino Cicala the lineup was further augmented by drummer Davide Quacquarella and bassist player Dino Pantaleo, who lasted until 1992 at which point they reverted back to a duo and drifted into working on other projects. Upon their re-emergence in 2015 the band had expanded into a seven piece adding keyboards man Andrea Zani, guitarist Elton Novara, bassist Tony Alemanno, drummer Matteo Paparazzo, and flutist and vocalist Demetra Fogazza. Their 2015 release Burial was based on the work of legendary poet T.S. Eliot. This interest in classic literature dates back to the band’s beginnings in 1990 and remains a key part of the band’s modus operandi today. As well as classic literature the band are heavily influenced by classic progressive rock bands, with Genesis, King Crimson and Pink Floyd all being regularly cited as inspirations. After signing to Black Widow records the band released this self-titled album in June of this year, thus beginning the next stage in their development.
This self-titled album is divided up into three parts. The first and most significant is ‘Broken Coriolanus’, a suite of five tracks based around William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Coriolanus. The second, ‘The Worm’ is a reworking of an earlier track based on Poe’s Conqueror Worm, which is also notable for providing the title for the American release of the Michael Reeves classic, Witchfinder General. The final track is a cover of Gentle Giant’s ‘The Moon is Down’ originally taken from the 1971 album Acquiring the Taste.
We begin our analysis with the five tracks of ‘Broken Coriolanus’. The first track ‘Welcome to Rome’ sets the benchmark for everything that follows. It’s an uptempo slice of prog that owes a debt of gratitude to ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ era Crimson, but more specifically Gabriel and Hackett era Genesis. Technically the musicianship is of a very high standard with some outstanding virtuoso performances particularly from the keyboard and guitar players. The songs are sumptuously crafted and the whole performance flows beautifully from start to finish. Despite all of this one cannot help but feel a little underwhelmed by the vocals which feel a little lacklustre, almost as if they are an afterthought. This is particularly frustrating when one considers the outstanding musical contributions featured elsewhere on the album. The track ‘Traitor’ features some outstanding lead guitar work, and the fourth track ‘Slippery Turns’ is pure classic Genesis, with some of the best Tony Banks esque keyboards I’ve heard outside of the man himself. The final track of the sequence ‘Rage and Sorrow’ as well as featuring some great flute work, features some great vocals from Demetra Fogazza. Sadly, her voice is criminally underused.
‘The Worm’ is up next. This is one is of keen interest to me, largely due to the track’s inspiration, Edgar Allan Poe’s Conqueror Worm. After a prolonged intro featuring some lovely flute, the track breaks into life around two minutes in. A minute later and things are taken down again with the emphasis on some lovely keyboard lines. Interestingly there appears to be a little more energy to the vocals, which are at their best on this track. This is probably my favourite track on the album, and once again those Genesis style keyboards and guitars dominate. The album is brought to a close by ‘The Moon is Down’ a cover of the Gentle Giant track from their 1971 album Acquiring the taste, that is technically very good and just different enough from the original to make it worthy of recording.
Overall this is an excellent album, filled with top class performances and great songs. My only slight criticism being that the vocals are a little bit lacklustre for the most part, however in the general scheme of things this is a minor criticism and listening to the album remains a very enjoyable experience. Hopefully we will get to hear a lot more from Hollowscene in the future.