This Italian Progressive Rock/ Metal act from the Coastal villages of Massa and Carrera (situated some 55 km North of Pisa) was founded in late 2010 by members of a diverse and experienced background, which enabled them to set forth quite swiftly in writing and fine-tuning the material (3 tracks) for their June 2011 self-released EP Four Zoas.
Such was the positive response from audiences, that the foursome consisting of singer/ guitarist Marco Bartoli, lead guitarist Luca Giampietri, bassist Luca F., and drummer Giuseppe D'Aleo decided to go headlong into writing sessions for a full-length album. However, with the passing of months, the individual interactions within the band had slightly changed, and the positive chemistry was simply lacking. So, in early 2012, bassist Luca was officially ousted, and subsequently replaced by new man Antonio Conti (whom co-founded Prog Metal act Kilo's Lyre, and played with Heavy/ Prog band Evilever until early 2012). While still fulfilling their show playing commitments, the band took some time reflecting on their material (also on getting used to having Antonio in their midst, I guess), but eventually the band continued the composition work on the album with rearranged ideas and renewed passion.
Finishing the writing sessions in early 2013, the guys entered Massa based The Basement Music Center (a natural choice, as it's Giuseppe's own, opened in 2012 – and Marco also works there), with Giuseppe engineering and Marco producing the album. Going for quality first, the recordings are next sent off to Matt Bayles (whom you might know from previous work with Mastodon, Isis, and The Sword, to name but a few), and then had the mixed material mastered by Ed Brooks (he's been responsible for stuff of Rem, Isis, Pearl Jam, and more) at RFI Mastering. Additionally, they had the album's cover art done by Jeffrey Smith.
For a listening session of the complete album, surf to the “Audio” section at (www.) numphband.com (by the way, “numph” is apparently a bastardising of “nymph” - go figure!), where you're re-directed to the album's Bandcamp page...which enables you to also listen to the band's previous EP, if you should feel so inclined. Expect a generally relatively soft type (occasionally borderline Ambient) of music (some deviating passages notwithstanding) with a certain degree of memorability...in which the Progressive tonalities (and according slight complexities) are however never absent. The singer is also of a relatively calmer type, but his English sounds like he's never spoken anything else. Well, it so happens he's a vocal teacher, you know, and a lot of Italian vocalist could do with some lessons by this guy!
What more can I say? These guys deserve to be propelled to the top of the Italian Progressive scene, by all means...and that's àll I have left on my plate!