Deus Ex Machina - Imparis (2008)

El blog cabezón sigue a puro rock progresivo italiano, y no termina aquí! El Mago Alberto nos presentó hace un tienpo un gran disco de una gran banda que a él le gusta mucho: Deus Ex Machina o DEM, y hoy lo recordamos para todos los distraídos que no lo apreciaron en su momento. Un trabajo interesantísimo que a continuación pasamos a describir. Y seguiremos con joyas exquisitas de lo mejor de la música prog tana hasta que se termine la semana. En principio, no se pierdan esta trabajo!. A puro coronav... digo... RPI!!!!

Artista: Deus Ex Machina

Álbum: Imparis
Año: 2008
Género: Progresivo ecléctico / Progresivo italiano
Nacionalidad: Italia

Tras una dilatadísima espera los tanos se lanzaron con un lanzamiento que incluye un CD (que es lo que nos comparte el Mago Alberto), pero también un DVD en vivo. Es su nuevo trabajo de estudio, pero también es en directo. Recoge el nuevo material de la banda, y al mismo tiempo tiene cierto carácter de antología.
La idea original era grabar en vivo los nuevos temas del grupo en doble formato, CD y DVD. El asunto se retrasó incluso años por motivos varios (entre ellos un grave accidente) y finalmente la grabación se efectuó en el 2006. El CD y el DVD comparten material de ambos procesos. El DVD contiene además diferentes extras.
Pero vamos con el comentario del Mago Alberto:

El año pasado ingreso al blog Deus Ex Machina, banda italiana derrochando estilo, un vocalista muy pero muy personal y una instrumentación de excelencia, el siguiente trabajo es otro de los tanos que se agrega a los muy buenos discos antes posteados, éste es su sexto álbum de estudio, para sorpresa de muchos y para bienestar de otros tantos.
Esta vez nos encontramos con una banda muy compacta con arreglos instrumentales de muchísima calidad y el derroche vocal de Piras que pasea de principio a fin, es digno de destacar el sonido setentoso de la banda aún cuando este trabajo es del 2008, los fraseos, los arreglos sincopados, los solos, todos estos ingredientes van dando forma a un álbum que de primera escucha te atrapa y no te abandona.
Hay muchísimas bandas buenas que son desconocidas para el común de la masa de los mortales, y ésta es una de ellas, recomiendo a Hypnos 69 (en particular "Requiem") también, quizás por la similitud de la propuesta musical, pero los DEM son un caso serio.
Básicamente si quieren escuchar una verdadera banda con ESTILO, acá esta "Imparis". El track 2 suena a Factor Burzaco, aún cuando son géneros distintos, pero vale la comparación por lo ecléctico del tema.
No mas preambulos para un trabajo que van a disfrutar de principio a fin.

Alberto

El CD contiene 3 temas nuevos ("La Diversita de Avere un Anima", "Giallo Oro" y "Il Testamento dell'Uomo Saggio") y 3 temas revisitados: "Cor Mio" (del segundo CD), "La Fine del Mondo" y "Cosmopolitismo Centimetropolitano" (ambos de "Equilibrismo da insoferenz"a).

Los temas nuevos se mueven en clave de jazz rock, aunque tanto "Giallo Oro" como "il Testamento" tienen elementos de la gran intensidad inherente al grupo. Todos los músicos están magníficos aunque el trabajo de Bonetti al violín es especialmente resaltable. Piras (en este caso, cantando en italiano) esta muy presente.
El resultado es un disco muy vivo. Rico en arreglos. Música compleja y de múltiples influencias, pero a la vez primaria, con fuerza de enganche.
Vamos con algunos comentarios de terceros en castellano y luego en inglés:

Para quien no haya escuchado aun a esta banda la descripción más completa puede ser la que viene en la pegatina de Cuneiform: "única e inigualable mezcla de jazz/rock agresivo con ritmos complejos, toques de guitarra hardroquera, RIO y Avant-garde, rematado con increíbles vocales en latín e italiano por Alberto Piras, uno de los vocalistas actuales más asombrosos". En este disco se mezcla un poco el estilo del anterior "Cinque" y el tercero "Equilibrismo da Inzofferensa", acentuado por la inclusión de un track de este último en directo: "Cosmopolitismo Centripolitano".
Las letras son esta vez todas en italiano, en un tono filosófico dan una visión un poco apocalíptica del mundo en que vivimos, no del todo clara y bien estructurada (por ejemplo este verso: "El límite de la vida esconde el horizonte que muestra el horror de un progreso efímero" o este otro "Creo que viene el fin del mundo: lo he visto con mis propios ojos en el espejo...Me ha atravezado las orejas como una melodía que gusta a todos" ). Las letras no tienen ni rima ni una métrica fija, son casi como prosa más que verso, con la excepción de la composición central "Cor Mio", lo más parecido a una canción convencional de rock que han escrito desde su primer CD "Gladium Caeli".
La edición es doble con un DVD que trae entevistas, tomas de conciertos, uno de ellos en España y un concierto completo en el mismísimo Le Triton de París en 2006. Es curioso que siendo músicos tan buenos tocando música más bien seria ellos no parecen tomárselo muy en serio. Al igual que por ejemplo Gentle Giant, las fotos de grupo suelen ser atroces por el aire excesivamete informal de todas ellas y las entrevistas son algo parecido, en el jardín de alguien vestidos en pantalones cortos simplemente explican cómo empezaron a tocar sin tener mucha idéa (según ellos).

Pantagruel

"Imparis" might be my favourite DEUS EX MACHINA record, and that's saying something ! I sure didn't feel that way after the first few listens, mainly because this one isn't as dynamic or Avant-gard as the others. Have they just matured or settled down ? I don't know, but everything that makes these guys a great band is still all here. Hard to believe it's been 6 years since their last album.
"La Diversita Di Avere Un'Anima" opens with some atmosphere before kicking into gear quickly with some great sounding organ. The guitar sounds fantatstic a minute in. Vocals before 2 minutes. The man can sing ! Violin 4 minutes in as piano plays on. It's building. Some ripping guitar 6 minutes in as bass throbs. "Giallo Oro" again opens with atmosphere as violin plays lazily with light drums. Reserved vocals 2 1/2 minutes in. It's building a minute later. Sounds pulsate after 4 1/2 minutes. Nice. The piano / drum melody 9 minutes in sounds really good. Vocals return a minute later. "Il Testamento Dell'Uomo Saggio" hits the ground running. Some nice chunky bass when it does settle. Vocals join in. I love the guitar work after 2 minutes. The vocals and organ are both powerful and amazing. It's building 5 1/2 minutes in to the end as the violin rips it up.
"Cor Mio" is a beautiful violin led track. Vocals join in this feel good song. It does get intense later though. "La Fine Del Mondo" is the longest track at almost 15 minutes. I like the sound it builds to 2 minutes in with deep bass,violin,piano and drums. Vocals 4 minutes in. A fuller sound 6 minutes in as guitar kicks in. The keyboard / drum section is outstanding. Jazzy. Violin joins in around 11 minutes as the song changes and vocals return. The tempo picks back up after 13 minutes. "Cosmopolitismo Centimetropolitano" is the final track, and a live song at that. Nice drum intro as violin and organ join in. The vocals are impressive. A calm after 3 minutes until guitar and bass start to dominate turning it into a powerful soundscape 6 minutes in. Some great organ runs follow. The guitar and bass shine 8 1/2 minutes in. Drums too. A sudden calm 10 minutes in. Vocals are back to end it.
This is simply outstanding music played at the highest possible level. I just love listening to the arrangements, and the way these guys play. Highly recommended.

John Davie

This album comes with different artworks whether it the Cd alone or it includes the DVD. To most progheads, this should be a no-brainer and the double disc affair will sell loads. Actually no matter the artwork, none of them are interesting in the least, but the title miht just be a 2for1, since the studio album Imparis is coupled with Live In Paris DVD. Both were recorded while they were attending the festival Les Tritonales of that year.
The studio album is their sixth (if Cinque was their fifth) and although I've only three of them (now 4), Imparis is clearly their best, being a giant step forward after the clumsy, sombre Cinque. Alberto's troupes are in full fighting form and recorded the album over three days in a Paris studio in late spring 08, even if the sixth and final is a live rendition of a previous track (also included in the live DVD disc) from Cinque. I've always found it hard to write about DEM's music, mainly because of its eclectivity, as each tracks goes through so meny changes that it's almost useless trying to describe it, unless citing them all. Sooo what permeates from a DEM album is the great amount of energy, a desire to stay away from straight-forward rock, and avoid predictability by heading in a systematically different direction than what you'd have expected them to head in. There s one major exception in this album: the jazz- rock of Fin Del Mondo (end of the world), when they do get predictable except when you'd have wished for the track to be instrumental, Alberto's intervention midway through being catastrophic, but outside that bit, the track is certainly the album's second highlight, after the delightful slow-evolving but crescendoing intro of Galio Oro. Once the track is in full force an Emersionian Gentle Giant-esque soundscape slowly evolving into another crescendo (ala Starless) evoking Soft Crimson. The shorter tracks also have more spunk and jazzier ambiance than anything they'd done on Cinque.
As for the Live DVD, three of the six tracks present on the Imparis studio Cd are also played in the concert as well as two from Cinque and two (three including a drum solo) more are from Equilibrismo, so you won't get the band to foray in their early catalogue. This Les Tritons performance is a typical one from DEM, with the group performing the tracks very close to their studio version. With bits of other concerts tagged on at the end of Les Tritons' appearance, it might have been interesting to see early footage as well, but once again, aside from Italian TV clips, there isn't much to sink your teeth into. But the concert was the main object and the rest is pure bonus.
What's not apparent on Cd , but evident to anyone who's seen the group live is their singer's Alberto Piras' strong stage presence, dividing the crowds into two camps. The first accepting him and gesticulations between his sometimes distant interventions, the others being actually slightly irritated over his attempts to find something to do during the many instrumental passages, this taking easily 2/3 of a concert. Alberto's antics are actually fresh over the first two songs of the first concert you've seen from DEM, but over a full concert, he's mildly irritating. Other prog singers have solved this by learning an instruments, and I could easily see Alberto playing percussions. In the same idea, it might also be a good idea that the violinist during his lengthy absence might learn a wind instrument, in order to vary the group's sound a bit more. But now, I m nitpicking
DEM is the modern extant of great Italian groups like Area and are one of the very few new generation groups to be really worth it, along with their protégés DFA in the very same genre others like Periferia Del Mondo or Torre Del Alchemista being left wayayayay behind in terms of relevance.

Sean Trane

Fantastic playing, but Jazz-Rock/Fusion it isn't . Closer to Eclectic with a touch of Canterbury. Really, no need to salivate over a long lost masterpiece of that genre. There are some jazzy elements, but a violin played (at times) along with a few dissonant cords doesn't make it sound like Mahavishnu Orchestra with Jerry Goodman. Just like a flute player doesn't make a band sound like Jethro Tull. Far from it, but the music is great anyway, very close to a 5 star recommendation..
...till the vocals come in and practically ruin the enjoyment. The singer has a reasonably strong voice, but a voice that doesn't really belong on top of this otherwise excellent piece. Mixing coffee with salt comes to mind. I'd rather avoid that.
Mixing credible Hammond work, alongside pleasing guitar and violins with a very commendable rhythms section would please me enormously. Unfortunately, the vocals don't belong here and do severely detract from my enjoyment. I have no choice, but to drop my rating to 3 as a result. I wish that I had access to the master tapes to separate the instruments from the vocals. The former would be treasured, whereas the latter may serve better in a different context. .

Anon-E-Mouse

Discazo para empezar el día en el blog cabezón!

 

Lista de Temas:
1. La Diversità di Avere un'Anima
2. Giallo Oro
3. Il Testamente dell'Uomo Saggio
4. Cor Mio
5. La Fine del Mondo
6. Cosmopolitismo Centimetropolitano (live)

Alineación:
- Buonez Bonetti / violin
- Maurino Collina / guitar
- Alberto Piras / vocals
- Porre Porreca / bass
- Fabrizio Puglisi / keyboards
- Claudio Trotta / drums