Il Castello Di Atlante -
Capitolo 8: Live


(CD/DVD 2014, 71:45/ 90 min, Azafran Media ‎- AP 1419/ Musea ‎- FGBG 4938)

The tracks:
CD:
  1- Non Puoi Fingere(13:28)
  2- La Foresta Dietro Al Mulino Di Johan(9:26)
  3- Il Saggio(8:45)
  4- Tra Le Antiche Mura(11:21)
  5- Malebolge(11:03)
  6- Stava Scritto(11:53)
  7- Il Vessillo Del Drago(5:49)
DVD:
  1- Non Puoi Fingere
  2- La Foresta Dietro Il Mulino Di Johan
  3- Il Saggio
  4- Tra Le Antiche Mura
  5- Leggi E Ascolta
  6- Malebolge
  7- Staba Scrito
  8- Il Vessillo Del Drago

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In 2009, the Italian progressive rock band Il Castello Di Atlante performed their only concert in the Netherlands. This happened during the annual Progfarm Festival held in Bakkeveen. At the time I found their performance a solid one. The most enjoyable moments were the tracks taken from their latest album Capitolo 7, Tra Le Antiche Mura (2009, see review). Now several years later, the band comes up with a live release containing a recording of one of their performances on CD and DVD. They named it Capitolo 8: Live and was recorded in March of 2012. Of course I was curious if they were as good on this release as when I saw them making their first steps on Dutch soil.

Well after listening to the seventy minutes of audio, I realised they were even better as I had remembered. Lots of wonderful solos could be enjoyed throughout the entire CD. Aldo Bergamini played excellent solos on his electric guitar, Massimo Di Lauro entertained me with his beautiful violin parts and Roberto Giordano played fantastic solos and chords on his keyboards. Excellent songs such as Tra Le Antiche Mura and Malebolge could be enjoyed. Many times they sounded like PFM and Marillion in their early days. The last title was one of the highlights played during their Progfarm concert. Too bad the other highlight at the time Leggi E Ascolta, wasn't on the audio disc. However I noticed it was included on the DVD. So quickly, I changed the discs in my Blu-ray player to find out if they once again could entertain me with this song just like I was years ago! Well the song got a perfect rendition however the images that came along were of a rather bad quality. Not of the standard you are used to seeing nowadays. It was too dark on stage and without good close ups. However it didn't prevent me to enjoy the many solos during Stava Scritto and just like during the Progfarm gig, the band members all got an introduction during this song by drummer Paolo Ferrarotti. Who again walked on and off to talk to the audience and to play some parts on his instrument. When he was heavily focused on the singing, he was replaced on the drums by Mattia Garimanno who was together with bass player Dino Fiore many times-a perfect rhythm duo.

You can understand that I have mixed feelings about this live release. How can you give a good verdict of a release which contains a great audio discs and a rather poor video disc? All together it is still a fine recording of a band who were in great shape during their performance. No doubt about that. But it could have been so much better if they had made more effort out of the live DVD. I guess three stars is a good rating for Capitolo 8: Live!

*** Henri Strik (edited by Robert James Pashman)

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