MOONGARDEN: The Gates Of Omega (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

In 2001, Moongarden were looking for a musical identity, and "The Gates of Omega" was the first album to take the Italian band in a new direction, towards what they themselves define as progressive dark pop.

If the first two tracks are not very long compared to the rest of the album, and take us into a fairly classic progressive rock atmosphere, all guitar for the first and grand piano for the second, with a breathtakingly beautiful finale, the third track changes the game. This centerpiece of the first CD is a long 27-minute composition in which Luca Palleschi's voice takes on Hogarthian accents. The music is rather dark and requires careful listening to fully appreciate its subtle magnificence. It's all about the soaring atmosphere, with the volume of sound decreasing until, in the middle, there is nothing but silence disturbed by a few birds chirping or the sound of footsteps in the snow. The finale is again magnificent, with keyboards somewhere between the Pink Floyd of "Wish you were here" and the Genesis of "A trick of the tail".

The second CD is more balanced in terms of track length, but is just as surprising as the first in its diversity of moods and sounds, with flute, acoustic guitar, a heady rhythm, mellotron, floydian guitars, confusing breaks, piano, etc.... And always that voice, slightly gravelly but terribly captivating.

With the exception of its length, which may seem excessive, "The Gates Of Omega" is faultless. If you appreciate progressive rock when it oscillates between light and shade, between the too predictable neo of the south and the too icy ambient of the north, Moongarden should satisfy you. - Official website

MOONGARDEN

THE GATES OF OMEGA

MELLOW

PROGRESSIVE ROCK