(Prog-, Jazz-, Art-Rock) Deus Ex Machina - Gladium Caeli 1991 - 1994, APE (image+.cue) lossless

One of the finest avant/progressive bands in the world today, Deus Ex Machina has carved out an enviable reputation with its amazingly high energy live shows and critically acclaimed live and studio albums. The Italian band is a sextet of top notch musicians including Alessandro Bonetti (violin), Fabrizio Puglisi (Hammond organ/Fender Rhodes piano/Arp Odyssey synth), Maurino Collina (guitar) Alessandro Porreca (bass),Claudio Trotta (drums), and vocalist Alberto Piras. The band's music is a heady, astonishing, playful fusion of classic and progressive rock and jazz, topped with the incredible vocals of Piras, one of the most
extraordinary vocalists working in rock music today. Notably, the classically-trained Piras sings in both Latin (!) and Italian. The bandstates that "the Latin lyrics originate from their desire to reconcile the melodious nature of Italian (which is difficult to transpose into rock) with the immediacy and fluency of English. Latin presented itself as the
ideal solution."
Deus Ex Machina first formed in 1985 in Bologna, Italy for the purpose of writing and performing an original rock opera. Based on the theme of the enduring struggle between Man and Nature, the opera, received acclaimed for its powerful music when performed.
During the 1990s, the band released four studio and two live albums, and appeared on four compilations with other artists. In each recording, Deus Ex Machina further developed its musical style; the band in its own words, is "justly proud of their trademark ethos: a permanent state of evolution".

Certainly one of the most original of the Italian scene and my vote for the best currently active progressive, Deus Ex Machina are an excellent ensemble with one of the best vocalists to be heard since the late Demetrio Stratos. To top that off, the band also includes one of the better guitarists of this era, a breath of fresh air in the midst of all the metal stylists. With a wide instrumental palate, including keys and violin, Deus Ex Machina have a very unique sound with hints of both the classic Italian groups (Area, early New Trolls, Osanna) and FM classic rock like Led Zeppelin. Their debut Gladium Caeli (Kaliphonia ECD-2247, CD) was one of the fresher sounding albums of the early 90's, although this is nowhere close to the incredibly advanced music of their later titles. But even early on, Deus ex Machina stayed clear of familiar symphonic territory, favoring a harder and slightly bluesy edge, a deconstruction of 70's classic rock taken into directions jazzy, operatic and dramatic. While one can't expect the cohesion that drummer Claudio Trotta brought to the band later, this debut still remains a strong debut effort and worth the listen, if only for the embryonic beginnings of one of modern progressive music's most fascinating groups. - Gnosis Ratings
Deus Ex Machina's first album, a rock-opera called Gladium Caeli, was recorded and released in 1991 by the Italian label Kaliphonia. Recorded in only two days in the studio, the album maintained the spontaneity and immediacy of a live recording. - Deus Ex Machina, Rattaymusic.de

Mauro Collina - Guitars
Alessandro Porreca - Basses
Luigi Ricciadiello - Keyboards
Marco Matteuzzi - Drums, Percussion
Alessandro Bonetti - Violins
Alberto Piras - Vocals