In a recent MRR newsletter Nick Katona highlighted this album, originally released in 2010, and given I had previously reviewed their 2017 release, ‘Chaptersend’, I thought I would give it a try. Although their debut had been released just the previous year, there had been a line-up change in the departure of guitarist Stefano Lago, but the remaining members just shared the duties between them and carried on as a trio. Richard George Allen (drums, assorted percussion, vocals), Luca Briccola (guitars, keyboards, flute, orchestration, backing vocals) and Paolo Pigni (bass, acoustic guitars, vocals) here deliver a concept album inspired by a true story suggested by Richard. It follows a businessman trapped in a New York lift over a weekend and takes us through multiple emotions, from claustrophobic panic to the exhilaration of a new beginning.
Mogador are a band who I feel never truly gained the recognition they deserved, possibly because they are an Italian progressive band who followed much more of a crossover style than the somewhat heavier and more robust RPI, and they certainly have a good home in MRR in that their music is heavily influenced by the lighter and more American influences with AOR melding with pop melodies and classic progressive layering and styles. This is an album which certainly benefits from repeated listenings as the more it is played the more one hears, from tubular bells and underlying acoustic guitars to complex bass runs and classic keyboard sounds as they cross genres making music which is both immediate and enjoyable, complex yet somehow simplistic and easy to understand at the same time. Sadly, the highly influential Pigni left after this album, turning instead to his solo project Sarastro Blake who released their solo album in 2013, and there have been just two more Mogador releases since then, although the band do appear to have been gigging until a few years ago.
That is a real shame as this is a thoroughly enjoyable album which anyone who likes crossover prog should definitely seek out.
kev rowland |4/5
