L'Ira Del Baccano - Si Non Sedes Is
This offering from Italian psychedelic rockers L'Ira Del Baccano is a live recording which hasn’t been enhanced or played about with in any way in the studio. This is how they perform and this is how they sound.
The band admits that they are heavily influenced by 60's and70's psychedelia, especially bands such as The Grateful Dead. The overall sound though goes much deeper; big chunks of early Hawkwind, Black Sabbath and King Crimson are all there. The sound drips through the speakers, the band taking you on a journey to another, happier place.
The first track, ‘Doomdance’ starts off harmlessly enough and then develops into a driving riff and eventually to heavy chords and pounding drums. Towards the end, the basic riff changes into a sound similar to early Black Sabbath. The track finishes off with some psychedelic spacerock synthesizer effects. Being more than nine minutes long, the track has to be good to keep the listener mesmerised throughout. It is more than good enough!
The instrumental barrage continues with the oddly named ‘875’. I’m sure the number has some deep significance with the band but the name doesn’t matter. What matters is the mesmerising guitar and sound effects played over driving drums and solid bass. Epic rock chords, mood and tempo changes; they are all there.
A driving hard core riff introduces ‘Tempus Inane Flago, Requiem Spatiumque Furori’. This track is filled with everything that the space rocker needs; cosmic sounds, eerie melodies, driving rhythms and of course pounding drums, solid bass and wailing guitar. This monster of a track nicely sums up what the band are all about.
The more up tempo ‘Don Bastiano’ follows which relentlessly pounds along for over seven minutes of controlled aggression before the final track ‘Sussurri Di Nascita Celeste-Grateful To Jerry’. Eerie, distorted guitar is shortly followed by a driving melody where the whole band gives their all. At the end you feel as exhausted as the band must have been.
The surprising thing about this album is that is available as a free download from the band’s website at http://www.iradelbaccano.it/ . This is a truly remarkable piece of work. The only word to describe it: Stunning!