AElementi - Una Questione Di Principio - 2017
“... a fine debut album. ...”
intro
“Una Questione Di Principio” is the debut album of an Italian band AElementi based in Rome. The band was formed in 2007 by composer and guitarist Daniele Lulli and drummer Manuele D’Anastasio. After first having contributed to the backing vocals, Francesca Piazza is now the lead singer of the band. The arrival of keyboardist Dario Pierini made the sound of the band more progressive. The band is influenced by Italian bands of the seventies like PFM, Banco and Le Orme. But you can also find some Pop and Rock influences in their music.line-up
Francesca Piazzo - lead vocals; Daniele Lulli - guitars; Manuelle D’Anastasio - drums; Dario Pierini - keyboards and synths; Angelo Celani - bass; Giordana Sanfillipo - backing vocals; Carlotta Sanfilippo - backing vocals
review
Besides the short “Principio” intro, you can find the following six compositions on this album; “Lontananza”, “Vuoto”, “Straniero”, “Delirio”, “Voce” and “Addio”.“Principio” is a little tune played on piano and synth and could be seen as a kind of intro for the first real track “Lontananza”. The later is a fine opener with nice melodies and vocal harmonies. It has catchy vocal refrains and some fine instrumental passages. The guitar and keyboard sounds are diverse. The song is working towards a kind of climax with nice guitar solo’s and fine keyboard work. In “Vuoto” singer Francesca Piazzo is showing her vocal qualities. Keyboard player Dario Pierini is responsible for the symphonic injections. The guitar has sometimes a more Rock influenced sound. You can find some nice vocal melodies in this track. The next track “Straniero” is also one of the longest ones of the album. The track opens with a heavy and aggressive guitar part. But this song has more diversity, you can find beautiful piano and delicate guitar parts next to the heavy guitar parts. Halfway the song you can find beautiful synth and piano parts. Francesca Piazzo is convincing in this long track. With “Delerio” the band is slowing down a little bit. The song has extensive vocal parts. “Voce” is with almost nine minutes the longest track. The first instrumental part could be a Toto song. This is because the guitar has often a more Rock oriented sound. During the extensive vocal parts the guitar sounds are more diverse. Halfway this is changing and can we enjoy beautiful keyboard and vocal melodies and the following guitar solo is luckily more melodic. But when the keyboards got more room the aggressive sound of the guitar is back. The album closes with a track called “Addio”. The instrumental structure of the first part is very nice. It is one of the most diverse tracks of the album and therefore my favorite track. The last atmospheric part has the most beautiful melodies of the whole album. This is followed by a hectic guitar solo.
conclusion
“Una Questione Di Principio” is a fine debut album. But in my opinion the band doubts a little bit on two thoughts. The keyboard parts are in a more progressive rock vein, while most of the guitar parts are aggressive and more mainstream Rock oriented. To be honest, I miss sometimes the melodic and soaring guitar melodies. Also the extensive vocal parts are sometimes a little bit too much ... less could be more in this case. But I enjoyed listening to this album and I am curious how the band will develop in the near future.