ATARAXIA (ITA)
«Saphir» 2004 CD Cruel Moon Int.
A new Ataraxia album is always a matter of great joy here at Odiosious Larvae
offices. The Italian combo is just too great in their neo-classical quasi-ethnic
approach to music, and their latest albums are all favorites of our writters.
This new release is based upon the magical, symbolical and mystic nature of
gardens and the music naturally reflects that. Vittorio Vandelli’s acoustic
guitars float from harmonic arrangements to Flamenco-like melodies, while
Giovanni Pagliari’s keyboards and Riccardo Spaggiari supperb percussions
back Francesca Voice in a dreamy and varied way. Francesa sings in English,
Spanish and French, always with the class she was born with and with the occasional
hel of Vandelli and Pagliari. This is perhaps some of the most dreamy and
varied material of Ataraxia, and although the epic and grandiose aspect is
a little left out of the album, the etheral and mystic aura that surrounds
it put well the enphasis in the subject the band is playing for in this record.
«Saphir» is, all in all, another masterpiece, with a slightly different
approach from Ataraxia but with the musical elements that made this band the
no. 1 act in the etherela/neoclassical scene. http://nicolar.free.fr/ataraxia.htm(9/10)
