Il Segno del Comando - The dark side of Italian prog

Il Segno del Comando is a band formed in 1995 in Genoa, initially as a studio project, at the behest of singer Mercy – at the time the voice of Malombra, later in Helden Rune and today in the acclaimed Ianva – and bassist Diego Banchero, an excellent musician with a jazz background who was also a member of Malombra, and before that of Zess, then of Il Ballo delle Castagne and the neofolk act Egida Aurea. The aim was to reclaim the roots of a certain underground, dark Italian culture of the Seventies.

The band takes its name from the legendary 1971 TV series Il Segno del Comando, directed by Daniele D'Anza and starring Ugo Pagliai and Carla Gravina. The story follows Professor Edward Foster, a scholar devoted to the poet Lord Byron, in his search for an elusive square in Rome described in the English poet's diaries, of which he has received a photograph from Tagliaferri, a mysterious figure. It's a textbook tale, poised between the esoteric and the supernatural. At the time, Rai's programming was of real substance, far removed from today's drift toward mass-market culture, and the choice of Il Segno del Comando is no coincidence. The same vein also produced TV series such as "Ritratto di donna velata", "A come Andromeda", "Ho visto un'ombra", "Il fauno di marmo" and "Gamma". Giuseppe D'Agata later reworked the screenplay, publishing a novel in 1987 through Rusconi, later reprinted by Newton Compton in 1994.

Musically, there's instead the choice to revive the Italian tradition of the era, drawing on the lesson of Goblin, the esoteric, catacomb-like progressive rock of Jacula and Antonius Rex, and reviving the dark sound of legendary bands such as Il Balletto di Bronzo, Museo Rosenbach and Il Rovescio della Medaglia.

The debut album, Il Segno del Comando, released in 1996 on Black Widow, is stunning: tracks like "La taverna dell'angelo", "Il Segno del Comando" and "Ghost Lovers in Villa Piuma" recreate a vintage atmosphere and bring back to life the spirit of an unforgettable era of Italian music, helped along by thoroughly respectable musicians such as guitarist Matteo Ricci, keyboardist Agostino Tavella and Carlo Opisso, while Diego Banchero's pulsing bass echoes that of the great Fabio Pignatelli of Goblin. Mercy's vocals also sound particularly inspired compared to earlier efforts. Fabio Zuffanti would later do something similar with La Maschera di Cera, achieving equally fine results, but this record remains a gem for fans of the genre.

In the meantime, the band took part in Black Widow's compilation …E tu vivrai nel terrore, dedicated to Italian horror films.

In 2002 came the second album, Der Golem. The lineup changed, with four out of five members now coming from Malombra. The concept is dedicated to the great Austrian writer Gustav Meyrink and his masterpiece novel "Der Golem". Meyrink was a great devotee and expert of esotericism and Eastern doctrines such as yoga and Taoism. In Italy his works were first translated by the traditionalist philosopher Julius Evola. The book is set in the Jewish ghetto of Prague, where every 33 years the ghost of the Golem appears, terrorizing the population. The alternation of dream and wakefulness gives the story an unreal, nightmarish atmosphere: the text draws on the Jewish legend of the Golem and tells the story of a man who swaps hats with the gem-cutter Athanasius Pernath, whose life he then relives as if in a dream.

Musically, though, the album marks a change of direction: the Seventies atmospheres are abandoned, at least in part, in favor of more modern musical solutions closer to gothic metal. Still, a genuinely dark feeling lingers at times, making tracks like "Dal diario di un intagliatore di pietre", "Golem" and the epic, gothic "Komplott Kharousek" truly frightening. Worth mentioning is the splendid cover artwork, courtesy of Genoese artist Danilo Capua.

It doesn't reach the heights of the debut, but Der Golem still retains an undeniable charm today, a few uninspired tracks notwithstanding.

At this point the project was put on ice, from 2002 to 2010, until it was revived by Diego Banchero in 2013 with the release, again on Black Widow, of Il volto verde.

Banchero once again turns to Meyrink's work, specifically his second novel, set in Amsterdam during a period of material and spiritual disorientation for Europe, shaken at the time by the Great War. The book is based on the legend of the Wandering Jew.

Meyrink's style is visionary and proceeds through "images". The text reveals the secret techniques for awakening the mind's hidden powers. In this way, man manages to awaken and reach a higher state of consciousness that grants him immortality.

This is a complex and profound work. The lyrics, written by Banchero, closely follow the novel's themes and turn out to be symbolic and dark.

Musically, the album is solid and moves back closer to the Italian prog atmospheres of the first record. Banchero surrounds himself with prestigious guests such as Claudio Simonetti (Goblin, Daemonia), Gianni Leone (Il Balletto di Bronzo), Martin Grice (Delirium), Sophya Baccini (Presence), Vinz Aquarian (Ballo delle Castagne) and Freddy Delirio (Death SS).

Mercy is no longer on vocals, replaced mainly by Maethelyah (Danse Society, Bloody Mask) and also by David Kriegg and Sophya Baccini.

The ghost of Il Balletto di Bronzo looms on several occasions - as in "Chider il verde" and "Il manoscritto" - though there's no shortage of new wave influences either. In "L'evocazione di Eva" we again find the aforementioned Simonetti on keyboards. The sonic choices can come across as a bit contrived, especially the drum parts, but the overall level remains good.

In 2018 came a studio live album titled …Al passato, al presente, al futuro…, in a limited, numbered edition of 100 copies. It's a kind of Best Of spanning the band's entire output, with tracks from the legendary debut as well as from Der Golem and Il volto verde.

At this point, for the next album, Banchero turned to a new lineup featuring singer Riccardo Morello, guitarists Roberto Lucanato and Davide Bruzzi, Beppi Menozzi on keyboards and Fernando Cherchi on drums.

The concept is based on the novel L'incanto dello Zero by Cristian Raimondi, who should be regarded as a true new member of the group. His are ravings inspired by an inner voice that he calls "the voice of God".

Compared to its predecessor, the album boasts a better production, and the quality of the songs is also superior. The opening track "Intro – Il senza ombra" recalls the atmospheres of the legendary "Tardo Pede In Magiam Versus" by Jacula, while the following "Il calice nell'oblio" showcases the voice of Riccardo Morello, underpinned by a compact, granite-like sound.

In "Al cospetto dell'inatteso" – featuring guests Maethelyiah and Paul Nash – the influence of Goblin is strongly felt. "Nel labirinto spirituale", on the other hand, recalls a certain Italian melodic tradition already revisited by bands like Ianva and Egida Aurea.

There's no let-up in tension on this new work, which confirms that Il Segno del Comando have a sound all their own. All that's left now is to wait for further developments from a project wrapped in an aura of legend comparable, in some ways, to that of Devil Doll.

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