Released by AltrOck/Fading Records in 2013, the eponymous debut album by Italian prog outfit Not a Good Sign prominently features two members of Milan-based avant-proggers Yugen, guitarist/composer Francesco Zago -- now adding lyricist to his résumé -- and keyboardist/composer Paolo Ske Botta. Comparatively stripped down with guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums, this group has less textural/timbral variety than Yugen's most complex music, but Botta's array of vintage electric keyboards and Zago's palette of guitar tones keep the changes coming over the clean and powerful rhythm section of bassist Gabriele Guidi Colombi and drummer Martino Malacrida. On the Botta-penned opening instrumental "Almost I," the keyboardist produces a '70s prog sound with his Hammond organ, melodic synth themes and melodies, and symphonic string and choral voicings, while Zago jumps from Fripp-ish arpeggios to sustained single notes to deep metal crunch. This grand overture leads into "Almost II," which introduces emotive singer Alessio Calandriello (like Colombi a member of Genoa proggers La Coscienza di Zero) on a moody and dramatic three-minute ballad; Calandriello begins intimately and rises with passion into a full-throated delivery of Zago's lyrics "You're trapped/Just close your eyes/Stuck in your dream/Without end."

1		Almost I
2		Almost II
3		Not a Good Sign
4		Making Stills
5		Witchcraft by a Picture
6		Coming Back Home
7		Flow On
8		The Deafening Sound of the Moon
9		Afraid to Ask