Member:
Jonathan Pine
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by Jonathan Pine)
Date:
3/3/2004
Format:
CD (Album)
Daedalus was a mythical Greek architect, inventor, and master craftsman, who was said to have built the Labyrinth of the Minotaur at Knossos. He fell out of favour with Minos and was imprisoned in the Labyrinth, together with his son Icarus. Having constructed wings of wax and feathers in order to escape to Sicily, Daedalus warned his son neither to fly high, lest the wax holding together his wings should melt in the sun nor to fly too close to the sea as it would dampen the wings. They managed to take off. However, Icarus, excited by the thrill of flying, disregarded his father's advice and flew too near the sun. When his wings melted, he fell into the sea and drowned.
Daedalus is also a five-man Italian progressive band from Genoa. Leading Far From A Mistake is the debut release of the group. The album lasts about 41 minutes, consisting of 8 tracks. The lyrics are in English sung by Alessio Brunetti.
The opener –“Darkness” is the shortest number on the CD (1:45). This is a very atmospheric instrumental intro to the rest of the tracks, based on a dialogue between a heavy guitar (Andrea Rinaldi) and keyboards (Giuseppe Spano). The second piece –“Masquerade” is both melodic and rhythmic with unexpected twists and strong prog metal elements (which characterize the entire album) and a well crafted guitar solo in the middle of the piece. The next is “Time” beginning as if a classical power metal song, then the guitar changes its direction and vocal joins.
“Rem 8,” the fourth track, is an instrumental with guitar riffs, strong bass (Fabio Gremo), drums (Davide La Rosa) and nice guitar work. The title composition is the longest (10:42) and seems to have the most complex structure. After a short intro one can hear a jazz-like piano which fades away after a few seconds replaced by a heavy guitar and vocal. This is the best piece on the album. It describes the blindness of an insane racist mind and a way to cure of this sickness. Lyrically, however, the most impressive song is “Raining”, being a kind of a prayer or rather a bitter monologue addressed to God.
To sum up, the band members call their music a progressive experiment. If this release was to be an experiment, it's rather a successful one. I am very interested which way Daedalus will fly, after taking off. There is still a possibility for a higher flight without approaching the sun too closely.
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