Art Rock Show – Uomini Di Sabbia (Week 31)

Nathan is terug met een derde album, met als titel Uomini di Sabbia (Zandmannen). Afkomstig uit Savona (Italië) en geleid door Piergiorgio Abba (keyboards, akoestische gitaar) en Bruno Lugaro (zang) blijft de band trouw aan hun roots van de Italiaanse prog.

Jan Buddenberg van DPRP.net: “Joining the composing duo of Abba and Lugaro, one now finds Giulio Smeraglivolo (guitars) and Luca Grosso (drums, except on Delerio Oniroco). Bass parts are now shared almost evenly between guests Fabio Zunino and Dino Cerruti. With Fabio Sanfilippo (drums) and Mauro Brunzu (bass) returning on the aforementioned Delerio Oniroco, this new album’s line up is complete.

The loosely bound theme on Uomini di Sabbia involves “the human being, his weaknesses and inability to contrast abuses”, with the longest suite on the album being specifically themed upon Big Brother and Utopian freedom. All this is metaphorically captured in sand and adjacent sculptured faces on the album’s artwork. How this works out in the lyrical department I have no clue as the Italian language is not my forte, but, as so often the case, this doesn’t affect the enjoyment towards the music one bit. (…)

Concluding the album is the long suite Egos. Subdivided in seven parts, it essentially brings a wonderful overview of all the multi-faced musical ideas captured within the previous 45 minutes. Blending symphonic prog complexities with whispers of Gentle Giant, ELP, IQ-like Mellotron and a variety of classic Italian prog influences, voiced by a tangible performance of Lugaro, this composition brings a memorable final chord to an overall enjoyable album.

Overall, Nathan have done an excellent job in bridging the past of Italian prog into the present. Sounding fresh and retro-organic at the same time, it’s especially the delightful touches of nostalgic 1980s inspired neo-prog that gives this album its charm for me. Through wonderful performances and well-written compositions, it brings pleasure from start to finish and, probably needless to say, fans of the band can buy this album in a heartbeat. To those in favour of keyboard driven progressive rock, and the one’s who share a warm heart for classic Italian prog, this is a highly recommendable must-buy/listen.”

Naast Nathan met Uomini Di Sabbia, La Maschera Di Cera (S.E.I.), Esthesis (The Awakening), Ad Maiora (Repetita Iuvant), Nuova Era (Return to the Castle) & Randone (Ultreia).

• Thursday/Donderdag 12.00 – 24.00
• Friday/Vrijdag 12.00 – 24.00
• Saturday/Zaterdag 12.00 – 24.00