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I Treni All'Alba: 2011 A.D.

Instrumental Melodic/Progressive Rock

4.5/5.0

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INRI Records
by Craig Hartranft,  02.20.2012

Here's an engaging and entertaining band from Italy, I Treni All'Alba, playing some very fine acoustic guitar based instrumental melodic rock. You'll have to bear with me, during this review, as the press/band information I have is in Italian. (Perhaps, conversely, and for a few laughs, the band and their Italian supporters will not understand my review.)

Above, I Treni All'Alba: four men unsure of what to do with their hands during a photo shoot.

My best guess, thanks to the Google translation tool, is that I Treni All'Alba means, in English, Trains at Dawn. But after listening to 2011 A.D., the importance of the literal meaning of the band name is severely inconsequential. The music has a universal language. Anybody with an ear for good instrumental melodic rock will enjoy this disc. Is it novel or new? Not hardly. But is it creative, lively, entertaining, and well done. You bet. Ergo, the high score.

I Treni All'Alba, essentially, takes acoustic/ folk guitar, as a foundation, and punches it up into a melodic, sometimes progressive, rock delight. You'll notice the obvious native and Mediterranean notes in the music, as should be suspected. But echoes of 70's prog to post-modern, post-grunge, alternative rock can be heard as well.

They definitely get electric, eventually. Actually, the album builds from an acoustic, minimal foundation, then adds and develops into a rock motif at, the very awesome, Tempi Moderni. From here the album returns to that acoustic motif, only to close with the heavier Streghe ('witches,' may be the correct translation). It's all good, and worth your attention.

I Treni All'Alba' 2011 A.D. is intriguing and satisfying stuff, some of the best instrumental melodic/progressive rock music I've heard in sometime. With little doubt, friends in Italy get this. How you get it elsewhere, specifically America, is by digital download. Check their website. Strongly recommended. Buy this album.

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I Treni All'Alba' 2011 A.D. is intriguing and satisfying stuff, some of the best instrumental melodic/progressive rock music I've heard in sometime. With little doubt, friends in Italy get this. How you get it elsewhere, specifically America, is by digital download. Buy this album. Check their website for details.

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