Having been to Argentina, Israel and Mexico in the last few weeks we're crossing back over the Alps and heading down south towards the Mediterranean, to a place that has become almost the spiritual home of prog. Well, one type of prog anyway. As I mentioned before, Italy is the only country in the world which has managed to create its very own subgenre of progressive rock, and these guys, while perhaps not playing the sort of avant-garde/seventies music usually associated with Rock Progressivo Italiano, are all from that country and so you would have to say that they qualify.
Not a good sign --- Not a Good Sign
The debut self-titled album is only fifty-one minutes long and contains only nine tracks, but there's some real beauty and depth there. Conceived out of various other Italian prog rock projects, none of whom I know so if I threw around names like Yugen, Ske and La Coscienza de Zeno, would they mean anything to you? Well they don't to me so I had no idea what to expect, but this album turned out to be pretty much deserving of its place relatively high up the count.
It opens with two linked tracks, “Almost I” and Almost II”, the first of which has a pounding, driving beat running on frenetic keys and Hammonds and Wurlitzers, with heavy guitar joining in. There's a certain dark doominess running through the music, and with their band name, chosen to reflect their view of how the world is going, that's not too surprising. Doom Prog? Perhaps not quite that bad, but a lot of the album is very melancholy and of a somewhat morose nature. Founder and keysman Paolo Botta does a fine job directing the synths while Francesco Zago on guitars makes sure the hard edge is not lost in the music of NAGS (I know: wonder if they thought about how their acronym would look?) though there is a sort of spacey, jazzy quality to the last few minutes and it becomes obvious now that this opener is in fact an instrumental.
Bold to choose such for the first track, perhaps? Always a gamble. You're a new band, unproven no matter how well known your other bands are in Italy. Are people going to listen to what is almost a seven-minute composition of purely music as your first salvo? It's good, and I guess in a way it serves as a sort of overture to the album, then things get much more relaxed and slightly more upbeat with “Almost II”, riding on a nice lilting guitar line until the soft voice of Allesandro Calandriello puts a shape on the music of NAGS, and what's more, he sings in English, which is always nice if not absolutely essential. The dark tone returns quickly to the music though, however here it is lightened by the clear vocals, then the title track explodes in a panolpy of keyboards and guitars, with Calandriello's voice a little rougher and harsher here.
It's a much heavier song, replete with thumping drumwork from Martino Malacrida and pulsing bass from his rhythm section partner Gabriele Guidi Colombi, but again the keys of Botta hold sway over everything until some truly beautiful piano comes in courtesy of guest musician Maurizio Fasoli. Teaming with lovely acoustic guitar it changes the whole tone of the song, Botta's wailing synth rising to meet the combination as they ascend to the heavens then come right back down on the back of punchy guitar from Zago and crunching percussion.
“Making stills” has a lovely intro on a glockenspiel, this handled by our keysman and giving the tune a very Peter Gabriel feel. A quiet, gentle start, it kicks up halfway with the manic keyboard work of Botta and some rocking drumwork from Malacrida, and seems obviously another instrumental as in the fourth minute it slows down again with the glockenspiel, a nice solo from Zago taking it to the end and into “Witchcraft by a picture”, which gets going with a big hard Sabbathesque groove on the guitar, dark, swirling organ and slow, doomy drumming. The vocal this time comes from another guest, as Sharron Fortnam adds a real sense of class with her angelic voice.
Also adding her own beauty to the tune is Bianca Fervidi on cello as she takes over from Fortnam and the instrumental passage begins, Fasoli reprising his role on piano as Malacrida kicks up the tempo, turning the song into something totally different and yet recognisable as what has gone before. One of my favourite tracks on the album, and it's finished off powerfully with some squealing synth and sharp guitar, fading out and taking us into “Coming back home”. This is a much more uptempo, almost psychedelic song with Calandriello returning to the mike, while “Flow on” sees the return of Fervidi on the cello with some nice Fender Rhodes opening the song and keeping things fairly uptempo. I hear elements of Spock's Beard, Supertramp and even a-ha here, with Calandriello's vocal at times quite low and soft, though at other points loud and strong. Decent song, if a little unremarkable. Nice interplay between the organ and the cello, and some very effective drumming.
This leaves us with two tracks, both relatively short. The first is “The deafening sound of the moon” which is pretty frenetic with quite a dramatic feel but I have to say it's one of my least favourite tracks here, just tends to wander all over the place looking for something to do. The closer is “Afraid to ask”, bringing back in that soft glockenspiel in tandem with the final appearance of Fervidi's cello and Fasoli's piano. A short track, just over three minutes, it's one more instrumental and closes the album well
TRACKLISTING
1. Almost I
2. Almost II
3. Not a good sign
4. Making stills
5. Witchcraft by a picture
6. Coming back home
7. Flow on
8. The deafening sound of the moon
9. Afraid to ask
This is a good album with some very strong points, and yet at times it lets the listener down I feel. The mixture of instrumentals and vocal tracks makes it a little hard to get a proper handle on, and I don't think Allesando Calandriello is used to his best potential, though the guest vocal from Sharron Fortnam on “Witchcraft by a picture” certainly works. This being the debut, I'm not sure when or if there will be another album by Not a Good Sign, but I have to say though I'd be interested I would not be waiting breathlessly for it.
Not the worst prog album I've ever heard by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly nowhere close to the best. Flashes of brilliance are too often dulled by somewhat pedestrian songs and in my opinion perhaps too many instrumentals. Nothing is too epically long, which is good but then again shows maybe that NAGS don't have the confidence to tackle a really long song on this their first album. I suppose you couldn't blame them.
Still, I did enjoy it and I would award it a fairly mid-table score of
6.5/10