The 2013 sophomore album and Fading Records/AltrOck label debut by these Genoa, Italy-based prog rockers harks back to a bygone era when singers vied for attention with swooping synthesizers and keyboard choirs. La Coscienza di Zeno, who derive their name from the title of Italo Svevo's 1923 psychoanalytic novel, build their music on a foundation of '70s Italian and British prog, sometimes bombastic, occasionally scaled to a more intimate level. Sensitivitá's leadoff track, "La Città di Dite," commences with a flourish as unaccompanied pianist Luca Scherani displays his skills with arpeggiated chordal ornamentation. The full band suddenly slams in with a full-on onslaught of glissando synth, dramatic guitar, and chordal keyboards, and bass-and-drum pummel leading to the entry of Alessio Calandriello's strong tenor vocal, rising powerfully through the mix to deliver the Italian-language lyrics penned by synthesizer player Stefano Agnini (merely one keyboardist would never be sufficient for a group like La Coscienza di Zeno, and engineer Rossano Villa even adds some Mellotron to boot). Davide Serpico's guitar introduces thick metallic crunch and is soon arching skyward with single-note sustain over a bed of symphonic keys, but a dynamic retreat leaves Agnini's high synth quaver setting a gentler mood over Scherani's piano and Gabriele Guidi Colombi's bass. Calandriello reenters with a more intimate croon, soon rising in passion as the strings swell around him and drummer Andrea Orlando kicks into a power ballad beat, momentarily abandoned in a feint toward the pure sounds of celestial keys and choir before resuming the deliberate tempo as the full band takes it all out in a surge of orchestral drama.

1		La Città di Dite
2		Sensitività
3		Tenue
4		Chiusa 1915
5		Tensegrità
6		Pauvre Misèrè
7		La Temperanza

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