Prog metal; Neo Italian prog
Latest: Assurdo (2011)
Assurdo (2011)
For those folks that are constantly asking to hear an album that is truly "progressive" rather than "it's progressive in the 1970s sense of the word", then I offer up to you Garden Wall's Assurdo. Garden Wall has always been a creative bunch, but they've really upped the ante this time. After about 5 listens, I cannot possibly describe this album. Many others have attempted to do so however. All of them very thorough, and quite excellent. No two are alike. I don't think it's possible for anyone to hear this album the same as someone else. About the only continuity in the reviews I've read is that Assurdo is unique. That's for sure.
They still have the Van der Graaf Generator meets thrash metal backbone of Forget the Colours, but do not be scared by that description. There's so much at play here, that at times you imagine you are hearing the classic Italian progressive rock scene being played out 200 years from now. Is it genius? How could I know - I'm for certain not one, but it is impossible to deny that Garden Wall continues to push the boundaries of progressive rock. This isn't tuneless cacophony in the name of Avant Garde, but rather a fully realized and coherent work. Check it out for yourself. Write a review. It will be different than the others you have read.
They still have the Van der Graaf Generator meets thrash metal backbone of Forget the Colours, but do not be scared by that description. There's so much at play here, that at times you imagine you are hearing the classic Italian progressive rock scene being played out 200 years from now. Is it genius? How could I know - I'm for certain not one, but it is impossible to deny that Garden Wall continues to push the boundaries of progressive rock. This isn't tuneless cacophony in the name of Avant Garde, but rather a fully realized and coherent work. Check it out for yourself. Write a review. It will be different than the others you have read.
---3/13/12
Towards the Silence (2004)
I've written extensively about Garden Wall in the past. From the brilliant neo Italian prog of Path of Dreams to the insane prog metal of Chimica to the psychotic thrash meets VDGG of Forget the Colours, Garden Wall successfully challenges the realm of possibility. But I can't get into Towards the Silence. It's just too much. Too much of what I dunno, but it's a bit forced in trying to find its muse. If you can't find it, grind it. And grind it they do, for the full length. Just not very enjoyable though admirable all the same. I have enough Garden Wall to satisfy already. And it's been ages since I last heard The Seduction of Madness, and I'm expecting yet another enlightened listen from Garden Wall on that album.
---4/14/23
Go to any music site and you’re bound to see opinions on this album like “brilliant” next to “sucks” and little in between. There was once a metal band called Thought Industry who debuted with an album called Song For Insects. It was the kind of album that made you ask “Where did they get the idea to do that?” Absolutely mesmerizing in its creativity, yet so unfamiliar it was initially discomforting. That thin line between genius and retardation. If you ask me, I think Picasso is a bad joke, yet art lovers vehemently disagree. Dali is a genius in my eyes… others very much see it the other way. It’s always the most forward thinking ideas that draw the most radical opinions. Here, Garden Wall just did away with the keyboards altogether. However they added plenty of studio electronics to the mix as well as some well placed violin. The metal isn’t of the familiar prog metal variety either – the roots are based in thrash, a genre not known for mixing it up with prog rock. And listening to Seravalle spew these vocals, you know he’s one night away from rehab. If looking for something different, this is one I highly recommend. If you disagree, you’re likely to score it VERY low.
---6/05
On Chimica, Garden Wall’s 4th album, the band had really progressed to new levels of intensity and intelligence. It wouldn’t be too far out of place to state that Garden Wall are a few branches of further growth from the Semiramis tree, demonstrating their Italian progressive rock heritage. Lead vocalist/guitarist Alessandro Seravalle is truly one of the more creative minds to emerge on the progressive music scene in the last 20 years. He pretty much just marches to his own drummer and could be seen as a genius, or insane, depending on one’s perspective. His vocal style is best described as strange, somewhere between Peter Hammill and a madman (some would argue that’s the same thing). It’s a style that’s very appealing for the chaotic music he and the band create. Keyboardist Mauro Olivo plays almost entirely in counterpoint mode, giving the music a disorienting feel. While Garden Wall always had a heavy streak, Chimica is the album where they leaped whole hog into the metal camp concerning the guitar tone. Which is not to say they are a Dream Theater style prog metal group, not even close. This is real progressive music, in the true sense of the word, not just a genre tag. The 34 minute multi-part opening track ‘Chemo’ goes through many different sections while still maintaining the sense of a whole composition (something that is rare to find in modern bands). For fans of their earlier style, Chimica is seen as an album going in the wrong direction, but since there are plenty of keyboards and acoustic sections, it was passable. For folks like myself who love this kind of creativity while still rocking out, Garden Wall were continuing to progress into new exciting realms. It would be five years until their next album, and not only did they continue to polarize the progressive listening audience, they blew a hole in the universe.
Chimica (1997)
Listening to this tonight. Not much to add to the below. I wish it had more bass - it's very trebly. And Mauro Olivo's keyboard tones are pretty much the same throughout, minus the piano of course. Seems he should have taken advantage of the modern technology at his disposal. All that said, it really is an imaginative album that goes all over the place. Few bands were at this Italian band's level of creativity at the time of release.
---8/26/06 ; 6/6/21
Path of Dreams (1994)
I've written about Garden Wall in a few posts already, so I won't cover too much of that again. Path of Dreams is their second album, and the one I point to as the beginning of the sound they are most famous for. As I've said before, Garden Wall pretty much marched to their own drummer. While listening, whatever you think might happen, probably won't. Like watching the original Game of Thrones episodes, it defies all normal convention. Looking like a couple of mental patients on the back cover (on purpose I presume...), Path of Dreams fulfills that one expectation, especially considering Alessandro Seravalle's vocal delivery. This is one of those albums that ostensibly gets filed with prog metal, but could just as easily be true progressive rock (though not the kind that what we typically associate Italy with). Any way you slice it, complexity is its calling card. Almost every track here requires multiple listens to absorb. My favorite is 'The Bride of the Wind' as it contains the album's most memorable melody, and its placement in the album order is bizarre and fascinating. Of course it is. The 1990s harbored all sorts of these odd progressive bands that are mostly forgotten today. Rediscovery awaits, but I'm certainly glad to have lived it real time. If you're looking for something different - and very progressive - Garden Wall is a band worth following. And Path of Dreams is one of the easier albums to get into compared to some of their others.
As an aside, can someone enlighten me on the language used in Maj di Muart? I presume it's a regional dialect, as the group's origins are very close to Slovenia and Austria. I tried typing the lyrics into Google Translate but it kept flipping back and forth between Italian and Krio, the latter is a Creole type language spoken in Sierra Leone. Ah wait - I think I answered my own question after further research: Friulian it's called. It's a part of Italy I've never been to. Though I've been on a train through it coming from Slovenia. Need to go...
---7/25/22
Principium (1993)
Garden Wall's debut is a rather humble beginning for a band who would eventually blow the doors off of the creativity well. All the same, it's aged quite well for me. I didn't even like it the first time I heard not long after release. If I recall my headspace back then, it seemed too lightweight for metal, and not complex enough for prog. While it could be called more "typical" prog metal, there are plenty of progressions here that were unusual for the time. A groundbreaking group who continued to improve leaps and bounds from here.
---5/13/24
Others heard: The Seduction of Madness (1995)
3/29/12 (new entry)
