(progressive metal) Evil Wings - Evil Wings - 1994, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

This CD is Evil Wings debut. Now after having heard three of the Evil Wings CDs, I am convinced that this band has been one to have had the misfortunes of being a tweener band, somewhere between hard progrock, and progmetal. One thing is for certain, this band came prepared to play some very technical music.

In many ways the bands conjures the voices of 70's Italian Prog Rock, with retro keyboards, and lengthy epical tracks, that feature some outstanding musicianship by all. On the other hand, the guitars and drums have a bit of a metal tone, so it's an unusual combination, no Dream Theater cloning going on here, but primo Italian prog that flat out rocks.

If the band has a curious peculiarity it's the voice of singer/guitarist Franco Giaffreda, his singing is somewhere left of Deus Ex Machina's Alberto Piras, and to the right of Garden Wall's Alessandro Seravalle, he doesn't have perfect pitch, or a voice of gold, but it's effective enough, and for this music, it really the instrumentation that makes the music special.

When these guys play, they are as good as I have heard when it's comes to spectacular technical arrangements. The bouncing back and forth of mellow parts, with these passages of dazzling interplay are somewhat wacky and fragmented, this fact alone could leave some listeners baffled as to just what genre the band is trying to appeal to. Yet I find it a most intriguing twist, I really haven't heard many bands attempting such a bizzarre union of styles, maybe Garden Wall, though they are not nearly as technical, or Japan's Mr.Sirius.

Apparently the band is satisfied with the singing of Giaffreda, as they have managed to produce 4 full length CDs with his voice, if he was half the singer as he was a guitarist, he'd be incredible, although, given the style of this music, I actually like his singing, it's quirky enough to work, as a guitarist, he is incredible, as is the entire band. I am sure if Evil Wings made an instrumental CD, it would be getting the rave reviews of bands like On The Virg, Planet X, Liquid Tension Experiment.

They really are that good, the music doesn't shy away from allowing the players to show this underlining. A very interesting band to say the least, and one that will either find you amazed or confused.

ProGGnosis

Franco Giaffreda - vocals and guitars
Rick Ostidich - keyboards and quadrasynth
Giovanni Bellosi - six-strings bass
Walter Rivolta - drums and percussion
******
Carlo Guidotti - violins on 4
Maggie Giaffreda - add. vocals on 5 & 8