Guitarist Vittorio de Scalzi, vocalist and guitarist Nico Di Palo, keyboardist Mauro Chiarugi, bassist Giorgio D’Adamo and drummer Gianni Belleno created New Trolls in Genoa in the mid-1960s. Their first progressive rock album was the highly successful “Concerto Grosso per i New Trolls” (1971). By that time, Mauro Chiarugi had left the band and was replaced by keyboardist Maurizio Salvi.
Concerto Grosso featured a fantastic mix of progressive symphonic rock and classical music orchestration.
In 1972, bassist Giorgio D’Adamo left the band and was replaced by the Italian-Canadian bassist Frank Laugelli. With the new line-up, New Trolls released the equally good double album “Searching for a land.” It included symphonic rock with majestic Mellotron, memorable electric organ performances, rich vocal harmonies inspired by Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Additionally, “Searching for a land” featured a combination of studio and live tracks, primarily sung in English.
The next album, “UT,” continued in a symphonic rock direction. However, a serious dispute arose between band members and New Trolls disbanded. Di Palo and De Scalzi entered a legal battle for the use of the band name.
Vittorio De Scalzi formed an offshoot called New Trolls Atomic System. Meanwhile, Nico Di Palo formed two different progressive bands, Tritons and Ibis, and Gianni Belleno played with a group called Il Cuore Dei New Trolls.
In 1976, the band reformed and released “Concerto Grosso No. 2”. After that, New Trolls headed in a totally new direction, shifting to Bee Gees-style pop.
Throughout the following years, New Trolls were hard to follow. Indeed, there were various divisions and reunions, some of which returned to playing symphonic rock. Offshoots included La Storia Dei New Trolls, Il Mito New Trolls, La Leggenda New Trolls and UT (Uno Tempore) New Trolls.
The most interesting albums released in recent years include Concerto Grosso – The Seven Seasons (2007), Do Ut Des, as UT New Trolls (2013), Concerto Grosso N° 3 by La Leggenda New Trolls & Luis Bacalov (2013), É by UT New Trolls (2015) and Le Radici e il Viaggio Continua… (2022).
In October 2015, co-founder Giorgio D’Adamo passed away. Another-co-founder, the influential Vittorio De Scalzi, died in July 2022.