Ingranaggi Della Valle — Warm Spaced Blue
The album opener Call for Cthulhu: Orison, starts off atmospherically before things break down and the music begins with some big piano chords. The addition of some beautiful mellotron lends it an air of the 1970s before the guitars crash the party and give things a much more contemporary sound. The mellotron and keyboards feature as the central instruments across the track leading to comparisons being drawn to Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. It takes over seven minutes before we get to hear the vocal talents of David Savarese and they are definitely worth the wait, complementing the music perfectly.
Inntal is up next, some mellow keys open the track before a relaxed drum beat is introduced and followed up with some beautiful mellotron. The track continues to build before tailing off again around the two-and-a-half-minute mark. At this point the track begins to grow again with keys and mellotron once again taking the lead, this is fine progressive rock with more than a hint of Yes about it.
Call for Cthulhu: Through the Stars is short at just over three minutes and features mostly atmospheric electronic soundscapes, with some backwards keys and a real horror movie soundtrack vibe to it. Lady Niva is up next, lovely jazzy prog which has a contemporary sound but still borrows heavily from classic 1970s progressive rock. The track breaks down mid song into a beautiful mellow experience, and features some fantastic little jazzy breaks.
Ayida Wedo opens with full on prog rock, underpinned by a synth track that bubbles along through the first few minutes of the track, before things slow down and we’re greeted with something more laid back sounding. Another synth track kicks in around the midpoint as the track kicks up a gear again, the track changes pace a few more times before the end, at which point it peaks by stepping briefly into progressive metal territory.
Final track Call for Cthulhu: Promise opens with an acoustic guitar and Savarese’s vocals, which initially remind me of Damo Suzuki from Can. The addition of synth and mellotron change things up a bit, but ultimately it is quite simple and straight forward until around four and a half minutes in when things are taken up a notch in heaviness. The final hidden track is interesting, opening with a couple of minutes of atmospherics before heavy electronic beats are brought into play.
Overall Warm Spaced Blue is a cracking record, featuring mature songwriting, and some astonishing playing, there are some truly wonderful keyboard and mellotron solos and the drumming is superb throughout. I didn’t know what to expect from Ingranaggi Della Valle, but I am thoroughly impressed. A wonderful surprise of an album that I will find myself going back to again and again.