La Quarta Vittima (AMS Records, 2014)
Italy’s Fabio Zuffanti is one of the great progressive rock artists of our time. The bassist, composer and vocalist from Genoa is involved in numerous top-notch projects that explore the various edges of progressive rock, including Finisterre, La Maschera Di Cera, Quadraphonic and Hostsonaten. La Quarta Vittima (The Fourth Victim) is the new solo album by Zuffanti and it’s a collection of splendid pieces that showcase Zuffanti’s various musical influences under the progressive music prism.
La Quarta Vittima was inspired by “The Mirror in the Mirror,” a book of Gothic and surreal tales, written by Michael Ende.
The album opens with the vibrant ‘Non Posso Parlare Più Forte,’ featuring powerful jazz-rock guitars, rich keyboards and engaging flute melodies and improvisations as well as laid back darker and surreal moments.
Track 2, ‘La Certezza Impossibile’ takes the listener into epic territory with delightful moments of bass and sax that lead to dramatic vocals and a glorious mix of mellotron and guitars.
The beginning of ‘L’Interno Di Un Volto’ pays tribute to the 1980s neoprog bands with a nod to IQ, presenting a great mix of male and female vocals as well as saxophone solos. The keyboards, specially the mellotron progressions along with the vocals are clearly spectacular and epic with a grand finale worthy of the finest prog bands.
The title track ‘La Quarta Vittima’ heads in a jazzier direction with lively keyboard, brass, flute and guitar improvisations.
The first part of Track 5, ‘Sotto Un Cielo Nero’ has a dreamy feel. The magical keyboards, vocals and drums are clearly from the great Italian school of classic progressive rock. There are moments of jazz-rock improvisation with the fabulous Le Orme-style of keyboards used by Zuffanti’s La Maschera di Cera as well as straight ahead jazz combo segments. The composition ends with an outstanding violin solo surrounded by exceptional mellotron work.
‘Il Circo Brucia’ brings Zuffanti’s band to high intensity with a mix of jazz-rock and edgy symphonic rock plus an exquisite section of funk prog.
The album concludes with ‘Una Sera D’Inverno,’ a beautiful melancholic piano and soaring violin intro that leads into a mesmeric slow tempo and epic guitar.
The lineup on the album includes Fabio Zuffanti on bass pedals, keyboards, loops, samples and vocals; Saverio Malaspina on drums and loops; Paolo Tixi on drums; Enzo Zirilli on drums; Riccardo Barbera on bass and upright bass; Laura Marsano on guitars; Emanuele Tarasconi on keyboards; Alberto Tafuri on keyboards; Rossano Villa onkeyboards and trombone; Gian Marco Pietrasanta on sax and flute; Fabio Biale on violin; Luca Scherani on vibraphone and glockenspiel; Agostino Macor on theremin; Carlo Carnevali & Simona Angioloni on backing vocals.
For the upcoming tour, Fabio Zuffanti has assembled a superband with some of Italy’s finest musicians. This band will go on tour to present La Quarta Vittima. The cast includes Fabio Zuffanti on bass, vocals; Giovanni Pastorino (Gleemen) on keyboards, backing vocals; Martin Grice (Delirium) on sax, flute, backing vocals; Matteo Nahum (La Maschera Di Cera) on guitars, backing vocals; and Paolo Tixi (Il Tempio Delle Clessidre) on drums, backing vocals.
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