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"Moongarden's "Christmas Night 2066" is a pleasant album to listen to, but lacks the highlights to stand out from the crowd."
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3/5
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If the world of progressive rock is not short of concept albums, the Italians of Moongarden have waited thirty years and ten discs to offer us their first. "Christmas Night 2066" narrates the peregrinations of a family torn apart by war, before reuniting and rebuilding a better world. Of course, any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental...
With a theme like this (not exactly original), is it worth pointing out that the music is nothing like the Christmas carols the title and release date might suggest? "Christmas Night 2066" oozes a dark, very dark atmosphere. Simone Baldini Tosi's voice, as pleasantly grainy as ever, exudes a melancholy that never fades, and remains one of the record's strong points.
But this tonality, which permeates the whole album, ends up making the whole rather monotonous, aided by an often mid-tempo rhythm that generates an impression of uniformity. Nevertheless, a few tracks stand out, such as 'God's Will', whose highly successful martial hard rock distils a most anguished wartime atmosphere, the ghostly 'Remember My Voice', combining gypsy violin with Eleonora Cardellini's ethereal vocals, 'The Forest of Glass', with its bewitching crescendo, and the two 'After All' tracks, opening and closing, with their pervasive melancholy.
Nevertheless, despite these rather successful passages, the whole lacks grip, with no real peak of adrenalin, and sometimes has a heterogeneous side like the two instrumentals 'Rain of Fire' and 'Building a New World' whose juxtaposition of small themes gives a disjointed impression and the prog/metal fusion lacks conviction.
Contrary to the claims made in the promotional material accompanying its release, "Christmas Night 2066" may not be "the creative apogee and one of the band's best albums" as advertised. It's a pleasant album, with some very good moments and others more unremarkable, but it falls within the average range of Moongarden's productions in particular, and of progressive rock in general. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. After All (01:46)
02. The Armageddon Parade (01:22)
 03. God's Will (04:43)
04. The Power, The Might (03:39)
05. Remember My Voice (01:58)
06. Rain of Fire (03:54)
07. The Forest of Glass (03:32)
08. Sick Tranquillity in A Desert of Rubble (02:13)
09. Just You and Me (04:50)
10. Building A New World (05:46)
11. After All It's Christmas (08:30)
LINEUP:
Cristiano Roversi: Claviers
David Cremoni: Guitares
Dimitri Sardini: Guitares
Mattia Scolfaro: Batterie / Percussions
Mirko Tagliasacchi: Basse
Simone Baldini Tosi: Chant / Violon
Andrea Giarola: Invité / Guitare
Eleonora Cardellini: Invité / Chant (5)
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READERS
4/5 (1 view(s))
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STAFF:
3/5 (1 view(s))
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