BANCO - Transiberiana

The losses of the great Francesco Di Giacomo and Rodolfo Maltese – who passed away respectively on 21 February 2014 and 3 October 2015 – seemed to mark the inevitable swansong of the extraordinary career of the Rome-based band Banco. How could one imagine a new work after a full twenty-five years, and how could anyone think of replacing Di Giacomo, not simply a singer but a true poet, philosopher and creator of a language that branded the history of Italian progressive rock with fire and iron? Everything pointed to the Italian prog giants having reached the end of the line, destined for a string of nostalgia-driven shows revisiting milestones such as “Darwin!” and “Io sono nato libero”, to name just the two most celebrated LPs. And yet stubbornness and a sense of pride in their own history led Vittorio Nocenzi – despite his well-known health problems – to try again and bring to life the new concept album “Transiberiana”.

With a renewed line-up featuring the already-present Filippo Marcheggiani (lead guitar) alongside newcomers Tony D’Alessio (vocals), Nicola Di Già (rhythm guitar), Marco Capozi (bass) and Fabio Moresco (drums), Banco attempt a path of change while still keeping their ties to their own history clearly visible. The cover art with the classic piggy bank confirms this plainly, just as the metaphor linking the Transiberiana to life – a long journey full of obstacles and unforeseen events – ties back to the history of the concept albums with which Banco helped write the history of Italian popular music.

While it's clear that the band's peaks were so high as to make them genuinely hard to match in 2019, it can certainly be said that “Transiberiana” is a more than dignified work with an identity of its own, straddling old traditions and the pursuit of post-2000 sounds. It all holds together thanks to a Nocenzi on great form, both in the writing and in the performance, ranging from classic progressive sonorities to jazzy piano, all the way to minimalist loops reminiscent of The Who's “Baba O’Riley” (“Lo sciamano”), enriched by solo attempts rooted in prog-metal.

The Transiberiana railway, running from Moscow to the far-eastern city of Vladivostok through regions where living conditions border on the limits of survival, becomes a metaphor for existence seen as a tortuous journey of pleasant events ("Campi di fragole"), looming dangers ("L'assalto dei lupi", with synth attacks reminiscent of Goblin), or the discovery of horrible secrets that crush freedom ("I ruderi del gulag").

There's a philosophy to the journey of "Transiberiana", a vision that tries to embrace Di Giacomo's unreachable poetics even though Tony D'Alessio's voice is very different. There are plenty of enjoyable moments and plenty of clever ideas, both on a technical level (impeccable as ever) and even in terms of tone (the unusual sonorities of "La discesa dal treno", the opening loop of "Stelle sulla terra"), with the genre digressions typical of the most accomplished progressive rock.

There's a lot to "Transiberiana", an album to remember as this decade draws to a close for Italian progressive rock. What's missing, perhaps, is the extra spark, the flight of fancy that leaves you breathless, the stroke of genius that makes you feel you're in the presence of something great. It's moving when, at the end of the journey in "Oceano: strade di sale", Tony D'Alessio quotes Di Giacomo ("arabescando"), in memory of the legendary track "L'evoluzione" from "Darwin!" — but even so, one remains forever tied to a towering ghost.

We don't know whether this will be Banco's last effort; what can be said is that this new chapter in their extraordinary career deserves respect and genuine admiration for a master like Nocenzi, who, after almost fifty years, is still able to speak to an audience entirely different from the one he first encountered at the start of his career.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

02/06/2019