No doubt, Garden
Wall is the most underrated
prog-band of the present day.
As a matter of fact, these very
Italians are, in my opinion,
the most innovative and original
contemporary progressive band.
Led by the guitarist / vocalist,
composer / lyricist Alessandro
Seravalle, Garden Wall
has already four fully developped
albums, each being different
from another, though all of
them are made within the framework
of the band's own original stylistics.
Up to now there have been no
reviews on Garden Wall
in the net, except for Gibraltar,
where you find just few lines
that describe this band as "a
sort of Neo compared to Asgard"
(?!- it's possible, because
ex-members of Asgard
from time to time are in Garden
Wall's line-up: but what a comparison?).
Already their first album shows
that this is a very original
band with a level of the complexity
of compositions that can be
quite compared to the most serious
albums of the '70s. However,
Garden Wall sounds not
like a band (so many of them!)
recycling the ideal, though
old, structures, but really
modern and fresh. I don't take
into account a slightly accented
vocals of Seravalle here, because
it's really original and impressive,
though, I think, Alessandro
may have been inspired by Peter
Hammill, in vocals as well as
in lyrics. Indeed, Garden
Wall's lyrics are as profound
and full of grotesque with a
touch of surrealism sometimes.
"Principium" and the latest
album "Chimica" can be called
stylistically as being somewhere
in the middle between classic
prog-rock and prog metal, with
the former nearer to the classic
prog-rock genre.
The second album from Garden
Wall "Path of Dreams" sounds
unexpectedly after the familiar
"Principium". This is, on the
whole, an album of the purest
classic symphonic progressive,
full of polyphony, with equally
prominent roles of guitars and
keyboards so as to create a
full-blooded piece of art of
symphonic rock. "Path of Dreams"
is a more mature work than the
already distinguished debut,
with countless innovative and
complex arrangements within
every song, fantastic interplays
between keyboards and electric
or acoustic guitars, energetic
and dramatic vocals already
without accent (only not counting
the pronunciation of the word
communion). However, here more
than a half of the compositions
are solely instrumental, including
the most beautiful piece of
the album The Bride Of The Wind.
Some instrumentals have been
written only by Olivo and played
with piano and synth-clavecin
and sound with a clear "breath"
of the Middle Ages. Maj di Muart
is the only one from the whole
discography where Alessandro
sings in Italian, his native
language. So, already the second
album from Garden Wall
turned out to be a true masterpiece
of progressive rock.
The third Garden Wall's
album "The Seduction of Madness"
(their first with a full-bodied
line-up) sounds again too unexpectedly
after a symphonic "Path of Dreams".
With the exception of Naia,
where Alessandro sings only
to the accompaniment of medieval
keyboard instruments, this is
on the whole the heaviest album
from these guys. However, you
are unlikely to perceive it
as a prog metal album at all:
this is simply a really heavy
work of symphonic progressive
rock, another state-of -the-art
album from such a young band.
I've never heard such a marvellous
style! And it's not a mix of
symphonic rock with prog metal,
no way! Just listen to the gems
like La Chatea Fou, an incredible
heavy... waltz, and you'll understand,
what a gem goes unnoticed up
to now!
Summary is simple. Garden
Wall is one of my dearly
loved prog bands ever: Top 20
of all the prog-years. This
is the best Progressive Rock
band ever since "U.K."
and "Marillion" (and
just due to "Brave", their only
true classic (not neo) progressive
rock album). I am just waiting
for Garden Wall's next
album...
In
fact, this album should have
been released in the end of
1999 by the same "Music Is Intelligence"
label that all the previous
Garden Wall albums were released
through. (Though at that time,
the album had a different title
and there were only seven tracks
on it.) Unfortunately, soon
after the release of Garden
Wall's only mini CD "Aliena(c)tion"
(1999), which included four
tracks from the upcoming full-length
album, the label went bankrupt.
During 2000 and 2001, while
drummer Camillo Colleluori was
looking for a new label, the
former, leader, and the main
mastermind behind Garden Wall,
Alessandro Seravalle, has completely
rearranged all the contents
of that album and, in addition,
composed two new songs.
Above all, the music that is
presented on "Forget the Colours"
clearly shows that, unlike most
of the contemporary Progressive
Rock performers, Garden Wall
continue to transform their
style well into the 2000s. So,
the mighty Garden Wall are back
with an album, which, both stylistically
and structurally, is different
from any of the band's previous
albums that, in their turn,
are in many ways different among
themselves as well. However,
"Forget the Colours" is radically
different from anything that
was created by the band before.
This time, these very talented
Italians discovered a new area
of Prog-Metal where only Alessandro's
expressively aggressive and
theatrically dramatic vocals
can be recognized (not always,
though). In short, the best
definition of music that is
presented on this album would
probably be a blend of Prog-Metal
and Fifth Element. Really, a
new Prog-Metal by Garden Wall
is so unique that, IMHO, it
is impossible to squeeze it
into the framework of Classic
Prog-Metal of any sort. Have
you ever heard Prog-Metal, most
of the compositional canvas
of which were based on the laws
of Avant-garde Academic Music
with its very unstable structures,
seemingly dissonant arrangements,
atonalities, etc? All of this,
being, in addition, mixed with
the elements of Techno-Metal,
Art-Rock, RIO, Jazz-Fusion,
Waltz, and even some of one
quaint Folk music, is present
on the new Garden Wall album.
This is an extremely intricate
music. Most of the songs on
the album are marked by the
constant development of both
the instrumental and vocal arrangements,
kaleidoscopic changes of tempo,
tone, and mood, very complex
stop-to-play movements, and
the complete absence of even
meters. (I don't know what a
method was used when composing
some of the episodes of this
album. However, it was not even
a 12-tone scale.) As well as
all the other Garden Wall albums,
"Forget the Colours" is a concept
album, created within the framework
of a unified stylistics, which,
overall, I have already described.
However, there are many of the
quiet and completely 'non-metallic'
arrangements on the album as
well. Furthermore, each of the
nine "forgotten colours" contains
a few 'lyrical' parts, all of
which, though, sound either
dark or dramatic. Most of you,
profound and adventurous Prog-lovers,
know that in the new millennium,
a number of classic RIO bands
(Finnegan's Wake, Thinking Plague,
5UU's, to name a few) moved
towards a heavier sound, which,
in fact, is much heavier than
"your typical" RIO sound. (Instead
of calling the most innovative
RIO and RIO-related bands "RIO-freaks"
because of their new music doesn't
fit any of the four 'chief'
progressive genres, including
RIO, but in order to distinguish
them from "your typical" RIO,
etc, performers, I 'discovered'
the Fifth Element genre.) Now,
when the "Forget the Colours"
album is part of Garden Wall's
discography, I see the band
as a Prog-Metal counterpart
of those ex-RIO bands that currently
play a blend of RIO, Prog-Metal,
and Avant-garde Academic Music.
Really, various interplay between
the virtuosi solos of guitar-synth
(that, by the way, sounds not
unlike an electric piano or
synthesizer) and intricate passages
of violins, acoustic, and semi-acoustic
guitars that are featured on
several tracks of this album,
are in the vein of RIO rather
than Symphonic Progressive.
The parts of drums are incredibly
diverse and complex on this
album. The world of Prog-Metal
doesn't know any example of
such a mind-blowing drumming
that is featured on "Forget
the Colours". This is undoubtedly
an hour of triumph of Camillo
Colleluori, who, in my view,
is now one of the best drummers
on Earth. However, all the members
of Garden Wall have demonstrated
a fantastic mastership on this
album. As for Alessandro Seravalle,
I realized that he is one of
the most innovative and brilliant
composers in the history of
Prog several years ago.
On the one hand, it's obvious
that the new Garden Wall album
"Forget the Colours" won't have
more or less a broad audience
because of its compositional
structures that are not only
extremely complex, but also
rather rough. On the other hand,
all those who are open-minded
and adventurous enough to appreciate
the creation of such bands as
Thinking Plague and Watchtower,
Mekong Delta and Happy Family,
Doctor Nerve and Finnegan's
Wake, etc will love this album
to death. Finally, I'd like
to say the next. If only most
of the serious contemporary
Prog performers were free of
their daily job, they would
be able to release new albums
almost every year, despite the
fact that the progressive creation
is currently by no means as
profitable (to put it mildly)
as it was in the 1970s. Of course,
saying so, I imply Garden Wall
as well.
"...For
the German WMMS here is the
second act by the progressive
group Garden Wall, and
it's a definite step forward
as far as the last year success
is concerned." (Flash n.70, nov.'94)
"...the
70 minutes of this masterpiece
seem reveal to us a unique message:
our dreams die at dawn. "Path
of dreams" is a work of art,
dedicate to it your hunger for
knowledge." (Metal Shock n.177, 1/15
oct.'94)
"It's
a real progressive-rock with
an eye for the tecnique and
for the heart, with the capacity
of expressing emotions, with
the presumption of starting
a complex idea and the stubborness
of being able to develop it.
The music growing out of this
record is passional and amotionally
alive." (Rock star,year 3rd, n.22,
apr.'95)
"After
two excellent albums, the Garden
Wall issue the "maturity"
record, gaining their place
as a cult band. The G.W. created
an incredibly fresh and inventive
work without losing an once
of clashing power. This 4-piece
led by the ingenuous and eccentric
Alessandro Seravalle, undoubtely
talented composer/singer/guitarist,
has among the rest, the merit
of fusing the heavy-progressive
fearies with the attitude of
surprising through dissonant
passages sung on different tonalities,
jazz-rock fragments and arrangements
which seem to leave nothing
to chance...In the second half
of the nineties "The Doll",
"Le Cateau fou" fix the new
hard/metal progressive orizons
with special care for the lyrics.
In the end we find the song-track,
lastpiece of a group of songs
which draw the determined sound
of one of the most ingenious
and fertile band of this decade."
(Metal Shock n.202, 16/31=
oct.'95)
"..."The
Seduction of Madness" faithfully
develop the idea suggested in
the first two albums: an oblique
and personal progressive rock
rich in rithmical and obsessive
melodies, in psichotic keyboards
and, above all, complex tracks
which can be hardly compare
to those by any other band.
Alessandro Seravalle the mind
of the band, is an authentical
pioneer, a music paper acrobat,
always experimenting new and
unconventional solutions." (Flash n.84, gen.'96)
"The
Garden Wall assault the
instruments and pull munsters,
giants, horrible dolls, almost
mephistofilian sounds out of
them. The vocalistclauses are
reduced to the essential. They
are organically complementary,
close with another, and can,
moreover, trut on a satanic
drummer...The inspiration is
clear, the result powerful and
measured at the same time."
