We were recently sent a large set of albums from Italian label Black Widow, which served as a stark reminder just how fervidly that country’s musicians took to prog back in the 70s, and how that passion continues to this day.
Drawing influence from native titans Le Orme, Savona symphonic rockers Il Cerchio D’Oro formed in ’74 and had a certain amount of success in the period, before they morphed into metal band Black Out six years on. When they returned in 2005 with La Quadratura Del Cerchio it was as if they and their chops had been frozen in carbonite, and all the better for it.
The third record from the current incarnation Dedalo E Icaro is a fun, unreconstructed, and rather underwhelmingly produced return to the years of Le Orme, Floyd, Focus, Tull et al. That cover says it all: it’s a concept album based on the myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus. Trapped in a tower, forging wings, flying too close to the sun the Ovidian myth is writ large here in warbling organ, workman-like guitars, rambling arrangements and titles with grandiose titles such as Il Mio Nome è Dedalo, Labirinto and L’Arma Vincente.
What’s Italian for ‘does what it says on the tin’?
