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Aerostation — Aerostation
(Aereostella ARS IMM/1034, 2018, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2020-02-24

Aerostation Cover art

Aerostation is an Italian power trio without guitars that plays a mix of crossover prog, electronic music, hard rock, and fine pop that alternates between powerful and energetic music with more intimate moments. Aerostation is Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (drums) founder of Mangala Vallis and collaborater with Moongardena and Alex Carpani Band; Alex Carpani (composer, singer, keyboardist, and producer) who has collaborated with David Cross (King Crimson), David Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator), Aldo Tagliapietra (Le Orme), and Bernardo Lanzetti (PFM); and Jacopo Rossi (bass), a well known musician of the Italian and international metal scene (Dark Lunacy, Antropophagus, Nerve). Their debut album kicks off with promise with “Voices.” This is a track with a mixture of electronics and excerpts from President Kennedy’s speech at Rice University in 1962 charging the US to go to the moon in this decade, as well as excerpt from the Apollo air-to-ground communication. The next track, “Wide Eyes and Wonder,” continues with additional air-to-ground dialog then evolving to 80s / 90s prog. Track 3 is “Straight to the Sun” with heavy power chords, and then the album starts going downhill. “Fourteen Days of Lightness” and “Coldness” are mediocre, with “Long Distances” coming back with melodic prog that approaches 80s symphonic cinematic prog. “The Arrow” is more of the same MOR music. Finally “The Ghost Bride,” which sounds like a Strawbs song title, saves the album with an energetic 70s-style prog / psych jam with some similarity to Le Orme. “From Day to NIght” takes a step backward. But “One Billion Steps” and its metal prog reverses the trend. The album closes with “Kepler-186f” with a return to NASA’s Apollo program and the famous first words from the moon, “Houston, Tranquility Base, the Eagle has landed.” An uneven album, with some interesting moments.

Filed under: New releases, 2018 releases

Related artist(s): Alex Carpani, Aerostation

 

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