Back with their fifth studio album, there has been a slight change in the ranks of this Italian prog metal band in that they have changed guitarists since 2017’s ‘Babel’, which is somewhat of a surprise since Antonio Vittozzi had been there from the beginning, but he has been replaced by Francesco Cavezza. It is also interesting to note that well-known musicians Derek Sherinian (keyboards) and Marek Arnold (saxophone) have been brought in to add their talents to a track each. While I was a fan of debut release ‘Flowing Portraits’ back in 2008, I was not so keen on their last release, and I find myself in the same camp this time around as well.
There are some excellent elements throughout the album, some wonderful djent-style riffs at times, strong musicianship, and vocals, but there are others where sections have been added that just do not make sense. An example of this can all be found within “The President’s Speech” which at times is incredibly punchy and heavy (good) and then veers into some sort of strange lounge meandering (not so good). This means the album often feels that it lacks a sense of direction and purpose, not really making the headway it should. It contains all the elements of a self-produced album and I was not at all surprised to find that was the case when I checked. If they had brought on board a strong producer then I am sure it would have been a quite different release and the result is a prog metal album which contains some nice sections within it but is certainly never essential.
