Monday 28 March 2016

Mad Fellaz - Mad Fellaz II (2016)


The second album from this Italian band.

I very much disliked their 2013 self-titled debut album. Elevator music was one of the words I used when I gave it 2 points.

So the band has returned again as an eight piece band with a lineup of clarinet, saxophone, guitars, keyboards, bass, percussions, drums and female vocals. English female vocals, that is.

As you can see from the lineup, this is not the normal fare. Neither is it avant-garde either... or jazz. That said, the music here is very eclectic at times.

Strangely enough, this one hour long album is also an album in two halves.

The first half of this album is dominated by the vocalist Anna Farronato and her great vocals. She is not a soprano and she sings normally. The songs here are still eclectic with a lot of jazzy, eclectic melody and rhythm structures. Some songs are fast and some songs here are slow and pastoral. Pastoral with a lot of half-acoustic guitars, organs and other instruments.

The final half of this album is a mix of heavy prog and jazz. A lot of jazz, in fact. It is still very eclectic though with a lot of organs, woodwinds and guitars. There are still some vocals here. But most of this is instrumental stuff.

And strangely enough, I am not sure which half I like best. I think they fits each other.

The result is a good album which still needs a great piece of music to put it's head over the parapet. This is an album which very much appeals to everyone into jazzy eclectic progressive rock. This band is onto something here.

3 points

  

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