Promenade is a classicaly trained band from Genoa, Italy. With Noi Al Dir Di Noi they deliver their debut album. For me it was my first encounter with the band. After a few spins in my CD-player the skills of the musicians are obvious. Flawlessly they present their music. Also impressive is the fact that they all are multi instrumentalists. All songs are song in Italian. And with my Italian not being that perfect the melody lines and instrumentation have to make the CD. The music slightly reminds me of Camel in their Raindances (1977) and Breathless (1978) period. Not least by the use of the saxophone and jazzy parts. Although in Promenade's music there isn't much time to relax, because the music is all over the place. The music is well written but for me a few more soft passages would have been perfect. When Transatlanctic were making their album Bridge Across Forever (2001) I read somewhere that Mike Portnoy was quite persistent in having the songs in a particularly order on the album. He even promised the other guys that if they would agree with his album order he would accept everything else they would decide. At that time I was laughing about it not realizing the order on the album could make or break the album. The first song Athletics is an instrumental. I have to say it shows all the talent of the group, but as an opening track it's just too much. I can understand if that track is scaring people off at the first listen. I think the song as an album closer would have been perfect. In conclusion I think that Promenade has delivered a very nice debut album. With the musicianship of the band in mind I think we will certainly be hearing form them in the future. ***+ Twan Terwindt (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
