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BAROCK PROJECT: Barock Project

Release

Style

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7/10

This is the first release of the Italian Barock Project. The idea behind Barock project is to mix the structure of classical music with a rock and jazz style, supported by a pop structure, to come to their own specific 70’s-style progressive rock sound. This band is born out of the idea of keyboardist/composer Luca Zabbini. He was inspired by Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and studied at the ‘O.Vecchi’ musical institute of Modena. Bassist GB Giorgi’s influences are mostly rock, but with a big passion for jazz. He played with Zabbini in a progressive tribute band in 1996. Giacomo Calabria, the drummer, has a lot of experience playing progressive music and took a degree at Music University in Rome. In the summer of 2004, this trio started Barock project. Singer Luca Pancaldi’s past is also quite impressive. Before joining this band, he used to sing in an Iron Maiden tribute band called Children Of The Damned. With that band, he toured through Europe with ex-Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno.

With a biography like this, I was expecting a musical masterpiece, and it really is, to an extend. The first song “Eclissi” opens with classical piano, and the whole band sets in a bit later. You can hear the classical & baroque influences on this one very well and maybe that’s why they choose their name. As the longest song on this album, it’s also the track with the most musical diversity. “Odio” sounds a bit more like classic progressive rock. Here, the guitar is taking the lead, filled up with balanced keyboard work and a lot of breaks. “Volo” is a breather after 15 minutes of progressive structures, a ballad based on acoustic guitars. In this song, I found the Italian lyrics less disturbing than with the other songs, but of course that’s a matter of taste, really. “Gentile Direttore” starts with a jazzy bass line and gives the song a more jazzy progressive sound with nice drum/percussion from Calabria. When I heard the intro of “La Danza Senza Fine”, I had a feeling I’d heard it all before, but I’m not sure where to place it. The keyboards are in front of the mix, filled up with a nice guitar melody by Pastano. “Un Altro Mondo”, the last song on the album, also starts with the piano, but later on builds to a climax with a dreamy atmosphere. Even in this one, I noticed many baroque influences.

Barock Project has a great line-up of musicians that maybe couldn’t be bettered for this type of music. Zabbini is responsible for most of the compositions, Calabria wrote most of the lyrics, while Giorgio lent a helping hand for the lyrics of “Eclissi”.

My favorites: “Eclissi”, “Volo” and “Un altro Mondo”.
 

Musicians

Eclissi (9:15)
Odio (4:54)
Volo (4:27)
Gentile Direttoro (3:41)
La danza senza fine (5 :54)
Un altro mondo (6 :48)

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Last updated: 20 januari 2006 .
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