01	Il Sesto Giorno						04:36
	02	...E Lui Amava I Fiori						04:38
	03	Crepuscolo						09:05
	04	Hiroshima						05:23
	05	Nuova Luce						03:55
	06	Sogno E Realta'						05:57
	07	Inno di Gloria						03:29

Metamorfosi [Italy]

E Fu Il Sesto Giorno (72), Inferno (72)

A short lived Italian band only releasing two albums, the average ...E Fu Il Sesto Giorno and the classic Inferno. The latter featuring great use of the Moog as well as other amazing keyboard work, the band puts together an album length suite that is one of the classics in the history of symphonic progressive music. A must.
This heavy progressive album is a dark and intense moog workout. The keyboardist has his Emerson chops down, from the Hammond stylings to the barrelhouse/classical piano style. The Emersonian touches appear here and there throughout but this is not an ELP keyboard trio or anything near it. They explore dark corridors filled with cobwebs of intensity that ELP were too wimpy to explore. There is some wonderfully penetrating moog work on this (political?) concept album. Except for a couple of breaks, the many tracks flow together into a continuous piece. The vocalist strongly reminds me of Doug Ingle from Iron Butterly. The vocals are in Italian, but don't let that stop you. The lyrics are provided so you can sing along! Strongly recommended to fans of ELP and the moog synth.
The second album is the best with great keyboards and vocals (like ELP). It includes rock versions of the American and Soviet national anthems.




METAMORFOSI



1972
Jimmy Spitaleri (vocals, flute)
Enrico Olivieri (keyboards, vocals, flute)
Luciano Tamburro (guitar)
Roberto Turbitosi (bass, vocals)
Mario Natali (drums, percussion)

1973
Natali and Tamburro replaced by:
Gianluca Herygers (drums, percussion)



One of the few bands from Sicily, Metamorfosi have released with Inferno another of those album that any italian prog fan should have.

Their first album, ...e fu il sesto giorno, contains seven songs, the main elements of the band's music are already there, with the almost operatic voice of Jimmy Spitaleri in great evidence and the nice classical influenced playing of keyboards player Enrico Olivieri on a strong rhythm section, but the album is still fragmented and not particularly imaginative.

Second album, Inferno, is their masterpiece, with two long suites (there are 16 titles on the cover but these are only the small pieces forming the Inferno suite) and the majestic voice of Spitaleri perfectly mixed with Olivieri's keyboards to form a highly original and exciting result. Tracks like Caronte are among the best of the italian prog!

A third album, that was to be called Paradiso as a prosecution to the previous one, was never released and the band split, with singer Spitaleri releasing two solo albums im 1979 and 1980.

The band made some reunion concerts in the 90's around the leading duo of Spitaleri and Olivieri.









LP
..e fu il sesto giorno Vedette (VPA 8168) 1972 gatefold cover
Inferno Vedette (VPA 8162) 1973 gatefold cover
Albums also reissued on CD by Vinyl Magic in 1989 (VM 003 and VM 002)


SINGLES
Spacciatore di droga
Razzisti Vedette (VVN 33249) 1973 promo white label - no cover
both tracks from Inferno






Two great rarities, the Metamorfosi albums both have gatefold covers and are on the black/silver Vedette label. They probably had a limited pressing and distribution at the time, as the label was not particularly interested in rock groups.

They have a strange numbering, as ...e fu il sesto giorno has catalogue number VPA 8168 and year 1972 on the label (matrix carries date 29 May, 1972), while Inferno has number VPA 8162, year 1973 on label and the stamped date 30 January, 1973. While without doubt this is a later album, it was probably assigned an unused lower number in Vedette catalogue.

A counterfeit exists of Inferno that was very common in Italy until four-five years ago, probably all the copies have been now sold as originals!! This reissue is very well made and can give some experts a few doubts, but can be easily identified by the usual elements (see the Trident label page for details, and look for machine stamped matrix numbers and date on vinyl!). The cover has slightly out-of-focus images and writings, otherwise is almost identical.

No foreign issues exist.

You only need to listen to the first 2 minutes of Introduzione to understand the masterpiece that follows. Based on Dante's "Divine Comedy" this concept album both musically and lyrically describe the dreaded journey to hell and the inferno itself.
From the beginning of the album we are treated with a superb opus of moogs, hammonds and piano. Spitaleri's operatic voice helps accentuate the atmosphere and the majestic music. The compositions range from dark, obscure songs like Selva Oscura (after the first 2 min. intro) to majestic, energetic compositions like Caronte, Spacciatore di Droga and Malebolge. The rest of the songs are not as energetic but range from mellow to progressive outtakes. The energetic songs are particularly the most powerful of the whole genre albeit the lack of a fuzzed guitar. Composition wise the songs are very well crafted. In Caronte and Malebolge the minor scales are exploited with such ease that there is no need to shift between scales like other fellow Italians do.
A very listenable album unlike Il Balletto di Bronzo's Ys or Semiramis, Metamorfosi displays a more dynamic effort than their debut album. Inferno has the cleanest and purest sounds from a moog and hammond I have ever heard. Somehow similar to Corte dei Miracoli in the sound department (lack of guitar work) but incredibly original in compositions and ideas. This another album you must listen to first, Metamorfosi's brand of music is indeed extraordinary.
Juan Carlos Lopez