Various ‎– Giallo! (One Suite For The Murderer) (2008, CD, Italy)

Tracklist:

1. Alfio Costa: Frammento Rosso (Intro) (1:08)
2. Dark Session: Visions of Helga (26:08)
3. Leviathan: Vecchi Giochi (21:00)
4. Floating State: Suite dall'inconscio dell'Assassino (25:08)
5. Alfio Costa: Mirrors (Outro) (1:33)

One Suite For The Murderer is an interesting release by the Finnish-French connection Colossus and Musea! Giallo!, based upon the famous movie Deep Red (1975) by Dario Argento, contains five compositions by Italian artists. Keyboardist Alfio Costa performed the intro and the outro; he also joined the musical project Dark Session for the first epic composition. The other two epics, both exceeding twenty minutes, have been recorded by the well-known Italian formation Leviathan and by Floating State.

Alfio Costa - Frammento Rosso (Intro): the album starts with a warm grand piano, pleasantly blended with the MiniMoog.

Dark Session - Visions of Helga: the musical project Dark Session is an offshoot of the ELP-inspired band Tilion and features multi-instrumentalist Flavio Costa who has invited guest musician Alfio Costa on vintage keyboards and Hamadi Trabels for the dark speaking voices. The name of the band refers to the often dark atmospheres with a frequent use of the unsurpassed mellotron, blended with the distinctive harpsichord sound and sensitive electric guitar runs in a rather spacey and ominous atmosphere. Dark Session creates a great tension between the mellow parts and the more powerful and bombastic interludes with fiery and protrusive guitar riffs and a powerful and dynamic rhythm section. The music often resembles King Crimson’s dark album Red, but supplemented with the fat sound of the MiniMoog. The music also reminds me of the Japanese King Crimson-clone Bi Kyo Ran because of the biting Fripperian guitar sound and the powerful rhythm section. Anyway, despite these obvious references, I was carried away during this mellotron- drenched composition!

Leviathan - Vecchi Giochi: nowadays Leviathan is a trio that invited a male and a female vocalist for this song. We can enjoy 24-carat symphonic rock with vintage keyboards like the MiniMoog, Hammond and mellotron. It starts with a beautiful grand piano, classical orchestrations and inspired Italian vocals. The music strongly alternates between dreamy, mid-tempo rhythms and bombastic sounds featuring sparkling piano and fluent Hammond-organ. Due to the heavy Moog Taurus bass pedal sound and the Steve Hackett-like guitar, Leviathan evokes Wind And Wuthering-era Genesis. What a wonderful music! The final part is great, delivering a slow rhythm with bass pedals, synthesizer flights and mellotron choirs, topped with passionate Italian vocals. Goose bumps!

Floating State - Suite Dall 'Inconscia Dell' Assassino: this six-piece formation makes without doubt the most adventurous and varied prog rock on Giallo! It is less traditional and more experimental with avant-garde and jazz elements. This composition has a swinging rhythm with lush instrumentation: classical guitar, flute, saxophones, vibraphone, a wide range of vintage keyboards and even the distinctive theremin. At times, the music has interesting changing atmospheres and is sometimes rather experimental. The interplay is strong and I was pleased with some parts featuring mellotron choirs, vibraphone and warm vocals.

Alfio Costa - Mirrors (outro): the final track begins with ominous sounding grand piano that gradually turns into a dreamy piece. Simply wonderful! Musea and Colossus did it again!

Erik Neuteboom (edited by Peter Willemsen)