Tale Cue - Eclipse Of The Midnight Sun Progressive Voyages Review PV091

Tale Cue – Eclipse Of The Midnight Sun – Progressive Voyages Review PV091

It is odd that some albums you really really have to work at to seek to gain an understanding of what they are trying to say, For me reviewing this album from Italy’s Tale Cue has been a bit of a battle like that, which is very surprising as it is symphonic progressive rock which is a genre of Prog that I generally appreciate fairly easily, yet for some reason not the case in this instance Now I’m sure that that failing lies with me rather than with this particular album. It is just that this has failed to grab me 8n the way I would expect it to, Again certainly the problem lies with me here as the album is actually rather well crafted and performed by Tale Cue.

The band are a four-piece c9nsisting of Silvio Masonotti on Guitars and Bass, Laura Basla on Vocals, Giovanni Porpora on Keyboards and Alessio Cobau on drums.

This is their first new release in over 20 years coming after a long break during which they realised that they still had more music to complete and to offer to the world.

This new album Eclipse Of The Midnight Sun has 10 tracks with a total run time of 55 minutes, the song range from the brief Overture of Voices From The Past to the far longer Vertigo which last for Ten and a quarter minutes.

The opening Overture sets out their stall decently enough with lots of synthesisers and keyboards washes and a suppressed bass line, which leads into the strong first track The Rage And The Innocence, where we first hear the beguiling vocals of Laura Basla whose angelic voice works to great effect on this subdued track, the track is rather gentle in tone with lots of symphonic elements it is enlivened by a more rocky section at the 3:20 mark.

Where the song gains impetus and make a great impression as you listen to it.

This is followed by For Gold And Stones which commences with gentle piano and Synthesisers, there is a sweet delicate sound to this song, it sounds really good again at the 2:20 point an upfront bass line enters and the track again takes a more rock type tone, in this track the bass takes a stronger role which lends a different sound to what you normally hear, This I feel is very effectively done.

Punters follows again this has a very upfront bass line alongside a sinewy snaking guitar line and some great fills and the sound is mesmerising and really grabs you, sadly I haven’t got a clue what Laura is singing about here however she certainly sound impassioned in her delivery here.

Gordon Sinclair follows which has an energetic riff from Silvio to start the song off, there is a good sequencer part to this song too that adds to the sound, It also has a very fine and fiery solo from Silvio’s guitar,

I really do like this track I like how it sounds, it’s textures and playing are all very good and strong.

Tides is next, and this is a more restrained and subdued tone, although the song does have more impetus later on as the drums bass and guitar enter the fore subtly though, the track has lots of contrasts in its short running time.

Next track The Cue begins with a very powerful riff that really makes you take notice, although they dial that back a little afterwards, Although when it is repeated later on it cones back with equal power, this is my favourite track of the album thus far it is a very strong performance here.

Lady M is next this begins with acoustic guitar and symphonic keyboards sounds, again the dynamics here lie in the interplay between the instruments and the vocals and the restrained guitar lines from Silvio, who play a brief solo here most effectively it must be said.

We Will Back Once More follows

There isn’t a lot to comment on here except to say that again the song is an example of restraint bring used to significant effect as the song seems to want to break out but never actually does, it takes considerable intelligence and skill to pull this off so well and it is to their credit that that decided to take this less is more approach for this track.

The albums final and longest track is Vertigo which is a slow burn of a track with lots of moods and textures and some fabulous performances mainly from Silvio and Giovanni who have both been excellent throughout the album, here though they elevate their playing to make a very symphonic track of real emotional depth.

In the end I did enjoy this album despite my initial struggles with it, I think it is a worthwhile release and one the certainly warrants further investigation. I am glad that I persevered with it as it shows itself to be a great albumm9verall with good songs and performances.

More info here: https://store.dutchmusicworks.com/

Author John Wenlock-Smith