Mangala Vallis’ Voices is a wonderful new prog-rock album. I’m an old prog guy who loved Genesis’ Foxtrot, Yes’s Close to the Edge and King Crimson’s Lizard – and just like Bilbo Baggins, I’ve been “there and back again.” And this album echoes the ethos of expansive mid-’70s progressive rock — with emphasis on the rock.
Now, this band’s native Italy boasts a “long and winding road” of progressive rock. The ’70s heard the vinyl spins of PFM, Banco, the Trip, Balletto Di Bronzo, Saint Just, Le Orme and, of course, the New Trolls,
Thankfully, Mangala Vallis refuses to simply recreate old sounds. This isn’t neo-prog, and there is nary a metal cliché to be heard. Rather, Mangala Vallis propel the music forward with a vital, condensed, and nuanced prog sound that has a really sharp production.
Electric keyboard sparks begin “The Center of Life.” There are tough rock chords and a deep pulse. Roberto Tiranti’s vocals (in English) dance with an urgent melody, while Gigi Cavalli Cocchi’s percussion is patient and precise, and Nicky Milazzo and Miro Consolini’s guitar playing is sublime. It’s (sort of) like a much less operatic early Uriah Heep.
Again, Voices pushes grizzled prog thoughts into a very vibrant modern word.
“No Reason” begins with acoustic clarity that recalls the splendor Genesis’ “Entangled,” as Mangala Vallis’ vocal harmonies reveal their soft thoughts. But then the music simply spins off into prog heaven with complex guitar cosines, Gianfranco Fornacari’s majestic keyboards, and a wonderful rock ‘n’ roll cross-stitched blissful guitar solo that vibrates and dances like a dramatic Wishbone Ash flight of melodic fancy. Yeah, this music does capture the echo of those glory years.
It’s just a thought, but this music has a kinship with early Genesis, with dramatic vocals, clever interplay between acoustic and electric guitars, and the constantly melodic and expansive keyboard work.
“Get It While You Can” is an immense song. Keyboards and vocals propel the tune. This is dynamic music with mellotron beauty. Blue Oyster Cult, circa Secret Treaties, comes to mind. Then the pulse thickens with a heart-throb guitar solo, while the keyboard plays with weird math rhythms, and a piano touches a gentle finish line. This music simply makes the brain’s synapses feel really good. Great prog rock does that, to quote (the great) Ken Hensley, “from time to time.”
Then, “The Voice Inside” gets really vocal-piano-guitar intense, like a song from The Day the Earth Caught Fire-era City Boy, a beloved band who simply vibrated with a better musical torch in those later ’70s years and perfected the art-prog rock song. That’s high praise.
“An End to an End” lights a rock ‘n’ roll bonfire. This is slow-burn stuff, with a nice acoustic guitar wink, a Paul Rogers/Bad Company voice, great backing vocals, dulcet tension, a clever electric guitar twist, and a dramatic explosion of sound that circles like the melodic rings of Saturn. This tune pumps deep and brief epic prog blood.
“Demon,” is aggressive and funky. This song has the specters of all the great bands of the past and then salts the grooves into a higher heart beat that makes the old prog rock, somehow, get a new life resurrection and a brand-new zip-coded urgency.
Mangala Vallis’ final song, “Sour,” is soft and reflective, until dramatic passion plays the music of the big sunset that stretches like a wondrous guitar solo that spirals into the end grooves of a full length 33 1/3 vinyl record from long ago, that, thankfully, completes the cosmic lines of a really nice crop circle.
As said, I’m just an old prog guy who has been “there and back again,” and Voices is a pretty great album.
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