Doracor - Transizione

Year of Release: 2001
Label: Mellow Records
Catalog Number: MMP 408
Format: CD
Total Time: 51:52:00

With the main intention to revive the glory of bands such as PFM, Banco and Il Balletto di Bronzo, it is mainly Corrado Sardella who gathered some friends around him, baptised them as Doracor and started composing glorious melodic, analogue compositions. Sadly, in all his efforts and enthusiasm Corrado doesn't seem to find a decent drummer, deciding to also take the drum parts under his wing, resulting in the weaker part of the album. The album starts in an ambitious way with the 26' long epic "Cavaliere Del Destino." Composed out of eleven separate parts, this piece combines operatic voices, violin, flute and bombastic keyboard passages into a rich tapestry of musical delight. Very early in the composition the synths already come close to the Genesis from around the Wind And Wuthering period. Introducing the strong female voice of Louisa seems to be a good choice here, which perfectly contrasts with violin, guitar and keyboards. The main melody pops up all over the place making it clear the entire album is in fact a contemporary opera in which every single instrument takes its particular place in order to deliver every aspect one associates with an opera. Certain orchestral parts come close to the subtle aproach of Saint-Preux or the unique class of The Enid. In places these different parts segue better into one than others, so to be honest the 26' offered here could have been a fantastic 15' if all the unnecessary trimmings had been thrown away before the final mix.

In fact the entire album consists of just three pieces: the aforementioned 26:43 "Cavaliere Del Destino"; the 7:12 "Luce Ed Ombra" and the 17:44 long "Transizione." "Luce Ed Ombra" is mainly an acoustic composition where acoustic guitar, flute and violin free the way for a more powerful approach, where a repetitive electric guitar accompanies strings and synths. The final piece "Transizione" once again consists of eight individual pieces woven together to form one large piece. The song opens with the warm mediterranean acoustic guitar theme "Intro" before some Satriani-like pyrotechnics are demonstrated in "Vedere." One can ask if the strong voice of Louisa does indeed fit this music here, as she comes close to Gianna Nanini, as opposed to delivering more mellow, more melodic vocals which would complement the music much better. "Guardando Lontano" continues introducing a nice medieval feel before more strings guide this song towards its instrumental grand finale, which once again contains a fair bit of The Enid.

Sure there are some tasty bits on this album, but you can hear its the idea of just one man, written and conceived without the feedback of a third party. First of all the drums should have been done by someone else, whereas certain parts should have been removed altogether. However, hopefully we have to see this Doracor as a very first effort which benefits from critics like this one in order to shape a second album in a much more mature way. The talent is already there so the rest shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Tracklisting:
Cavaliere Del Destino (26:43): Scenario - Le Mie Opere - Immagini In Luce - Madame Noire - Isola Di S. Domino - Il Canto Dei Colori Autunnali - Il Giorno Dopo - Cavaliere Del Destino - Madre Natura - Un Gioco Che Finisce - La Venditrice Di Sogni) / Luce E Ombra (7:12) / Transizione (17:44): Intro - Vedere - La Soglia Del Mondo - Nell'irreale - Anonime Sembianze - Guardando Lontano - Memorie - Transizione

Musicians:
Corrado Sardella - keyboards, drums, bass
Milton Damia - electric guitar, vocals, backing vocals
Massimo Farina - vocals
Pierfransesco Drago - flute
Riccardo Mastantuono - violin, acoustic and electric guitar
Marco Fedele - acoustic guitar
Luisa Ladu - vocals
Nico di Gia - electric guitar, backing vocals

Discography:
The Long Pathway (1997)
Segni Premoniton (1998)
Antiche Impression (1999)
Transizione (2001)
Evanescenze (2005)
Onirka (2007)
Lady Roma (2008)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin IT

Added: September 8th 2002
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.doracor.it
Hits: 2270
Language: english