Heavy Metal Textbooks

L'IRA DEL BACCANO: Paradox Hourglass

Bringing New Meaning to "Italian Masterpiece"

If you type those two words into a search engine, you're going to get referred to a whole lot of paintings, but you should be taken straight to Bandcamp to check out this April 14th  release by a band I just found today.  Bandcamp's home page had a link to a story on Italian Psych bands, and I clicked, thinking I would see a nice write-up on Black Rainbows and maybe find some new heavy psych that's right up my alley.  I was half-right on Black Rainbows; they got five sentences worth of mention, and were listed ninth out of ten featured bands.  But I got so much more than I expected in the way of rock that is new to me.  My favorite of the featured albums was definitely Paradox Hourglass.  It is analogous on a few levels to Mastodon, in that it has the technical precision of Rush while maintaining both stoner rock and heavy metal appeal, but adds a dimension of psychedelia that separates it from Mastodon.  It took me quite a while to recognize that this is an instrumental album, since it is so thoroughly engaging, it not once occurred to me that anything was missing.  Hear for yourself; this is track #3 of 4, entitled "Abilene", clocking in at the fastest 11:17 you have ever heard:

Now the tune that grabbed me first: track one, "Paradox Hourglass-Part 1" (11:10)

L'Ira Del Baccano lists themselves as being from both Rome and New York.  They are:

Alessandro “Drughito” Santori - guitar/direction and architecture of Baccano
Roberto Malerba - guitar/synth
Sandro “fred” Salvi - drums
Ivan Contini Bacchisio - bass

I had intended to post the pre-released tracks from the upcoming Devil Electric album tonight, but this blew me away and I needed to share.  I purchased this after one listen, and know that this will end up costing me pennies per listen, after all the plays it will get.

Until next time!   -ULTRA