01	Pane Astrale						04:33
	02	Saturno						21:38
	03	Il Viaggio Di Elric						13:05
	04	Ipernatura Del Tempo Centrale						09:16
	05	Antichi Occhi Ciechi						08:53
	06	Meccanica Superiore						09:13

Rituale Alieno
Black Widow (BWRCD 022-2)
Italy 1999

Ana Torres Fraile, voice;
Giorgio Golin, drums;
Dauno Giuseppe Buttiglione, bass;
Marco Zanfei, keyboards;

with
Marco Mauro, guitar;
Giuseppe Saiani, guitar;
Giacomo Plotegher, keyboards;
Gianni Nicolini, darbouka, tabla;
Antioni Fedeli, sax;
Marcello de Angelis, guitar;
Francesco Ciech, cello;
Giuliano Eccher, viola, guitar;
Francesco Festi, Marco Festi, Simone Albino, Lucio Zandonati, Pietro Maini, Enzo Battisti, Giuliano Lott, voice

Tracklist:
1. Pane Astrale - 4:33
2. Saturno - 21:38
3. Il viaggio di Elric - 13:06
4. Ipernatura del tempo centrale - 9:16
5. Antichi occhi ciechi - 8:53
6. Meccanica superiore - 9:10

total time 66:36


brandon

Don't listen to anyone that tries to tell you that this band, or this album, is just another Magma clone. On this admittedly zeuhlish album, Universal Totem Orchestra bring together a host of influences to create a dark and dense experience that was one of the better releases of 1999. I like to describe the music on this release as "symphonic zeuhl" - the combination of the grandeur of the best symphonic rock with the repetitive intensity of zeuhl is wonderful.
The first two tracks on the album are some of the best music released in the prog-rock genre in recent memory. The opener is a brief piece for soprano vocals, keys, bass, and cello. Unfortunately the band never reaches this level of pure beauty again, but they make up for it with the driving intensity of the next track, "Saturno", a 21-minute tour de force that runs through a number of themes and seems to go by in five minutes. Guitar and keys solos to rival symphonic rock's best abound, interspersed with zeuhl-like chants and even a short monophonic, Gregorian chant-ish section. All this is backed up by an extremely solid rhythm section (with a monster low bass sound) and very competent and diverse keys work.

The rest of the tracks, while they don't quite reach the heights of these first two, are similar in that they generally run through a number of varied themes. You'll find jazzy piano interludes, Middle-Eastern/Indian percussion (is that a mridangam I hear on "Ipernatura del tempo centrale"?), industrial noisiness, beautiful vocal counterpoint (some of the most beautiful passages involve Ana Torres Fraile's soprano juxtaposed with the aggressive male chorus), and so on, all of it framed by intense zeuhl passages and flailing guitar solos. As a matter of fact, I was very surprised at the amount of guitar on this album - this sets it apart from "pure" zeuhl for sure, and is all the more interesting given that the four-piece core of the band doesn't include a guitarist at all!

All this praise given, this album still doesn't blow me away as completely as I expected it to. I think it's because some of the pieces drag on a bit too long for me; a few guitar solos here and there could have been dropped, a few measures from some of the longer repetitive zeuhlish passages could have been snipped, and so on. Compositionally, I think the band can definitely mature, tightening up the arrangements and making things punchier in general. Also, the drumming, which is quite fantastic, could have been mixed a bit more crisply. For the most part, though, the production is quite good.

In the end, though, I think this is an album with wide appeal. It's less "frightening" than most zeuhl albums given its thorough intermeshing of symphonic rock idioms, and the beauty of Fraile's voice and some of the vocal passages is hard to resist. The diversity of themes here makes me think, despite some of the intense repetition and dense texture, that a lot of symphonic prog fans would dig this if they gave it a try. High recommendation.





Universal Totem Orchestra [Italy]
Updated 5/17/01
Discography
Rituale Alieno (99)

Reviews
This band is connected to their compatriots Runaway Totem not only by their name, but also by the fact that drummer Uto Giorgio Golin and bassist Dauno Giuseppe Buttiglione, here joined by vocalist Ana Torres Fraile, keyboardist Marco Zanfei and a large group of guest musicians, used to be the rhythm section for Runaway Totem. Like Runaway Totem, Universal Totem Orchestra have their roots in a rather guitar-heavy version of zeuhl, but on Rituale Alieno (Black Widow Records BWRCD 022-2) they mix this with a gamut influences ranging from symphonic rock to world music and beyond. For example, "Il viaggio di Elric" initially wanders through a spacey jam section, but then comes to a sudden focus, as Fraile's operatic voice traces a grand melody over a spare but elegant backing of viola, classical guitar and harpsichord-like keyboard. A zeuhl-styled male choir then appears, responding to Fraile's call with a lower register melody line. The rhythm section kicks back in, electric guitar picks up a limber solo cue from the choir melody, keyboards first lay down a jazzy groove and then add a symphonic swell as the song rises to a peak - only to crash down into quasi-industrial rhythms and keyboard effects, as the choir gives the theme one more go. Similarly, "Ipernatura del tempo centrale" begins with an abstract, tabla-driven section, moves to melodic fusion with burning keyboard and guitar solos, and finally settles into a repetitive groove with a churning bass ostinato, far-out synth sounds and one of those "excuse me, my brain seems to be stuck on repeat" chants that are characteristic of zeuhl. The 21-minute "Saturno" is the most straightforward zeuhl burner on the album, but even here the band throw in various diverting bits (Gregorian chanting, anyone?) and switch riffs often enough to keep things compelling. While not all songs are equally successful in creating a smooth, coherent whole, and some sections don't escape the trap of over-repetition, overall Rituale Alieno provides an amazingly eclectic amalgamation of familiar styles that leaves a highly original impression. Powerful rhythm section, multifaceted keyboard work, excellent vocal arrangements and especially strong compositions (the delicate opener "Pane Astrale" is truly a beautiful piece of music) all help to make this one of the best releases of 1999. Zeuhl fans are the obvious target audience, but fans of a more complex prog in general should find a lot to appreciate here. -- Kai Karmanheimo