FEATURED ALBUM: Accordo Dei Contrari - Violato Intatto

[Poisoned Youth]

Violato Intatto is AdC's 4th studio album and received pretty high praise since its release in 2017. I enjoy it like I have their previous work, but I personally am getting less out of it than previous releases (specifically Kinesis and Kublai) as it feels little new is being said. However independently I still enjoy it.



Mellotron Storm has a different take. What do you think?

Review from ProgArchives:

I was completely blindsided by this album. I own their first two studio albums and both are solid 4 star albums but "Violato Intatto" takes them to a new level in my opinion. Now I did miss the previous album "AdC" so I need to rectify that but it's like this album was taylor made for me. So powerful with what I thought was outstanding in your face bass lines but was told by Giovanni the keyboardist that he makes the bass sounds with his organ now that the bass player was replaced by a sax man. There's also lots of horns, guitar and some killer drumming. Cool that the DEUS EX MACHINA violinist guests on one track. So much of this album is familiar, reminding me of music I know and love. Without question a top three for me for 2017 and possibly number one. This was recorded live in studio with some overdubs. I didn't mention the mellotron or Fender Rhodes two of my favourite instruments right there. This is simply outstanding from beginning to end, no weak songs even though it's over 73 minutes in length. It's mostly instrumental but for the guest female vocals on track 6.

"Folia Saxifraga" gets us started as it hits the ground running and there's so much going on. Organ to the fore as the drums pound. The sax is back! A powerful first minute then we get this psychedelic calm that's quite spacey. This is better. Drums after 2 minutes then it kicks back in. Dissonant sax after 2 1/2 minutes as the organ and drums create a rhythm.

"Monodia" is a top three song for me. Deep organ sounds vibrate my speakers before it kicks in heavily. The horns give me a SOFT MACHINE/ NUCLEUS vibe for sure. Love how the organ growls away here. The tempo starts to pick up around 2 minutes. I'm just blown away here as the guitar makes some incredible noise. The horn before 4 minutes sounds amazing playing over top. Check out the organ before 5 minutes then the guitar and drums take over. Horns are back quickly though. Powerful stuff then that SOFT MACHINE vibe returns late to end it. Nice.

"Blue-5" opens with organ and guitar as we get some heaviness as the soundscape shakes. A horn comes in over top. Great section after 2 minutes with the organ, drums and horns especially. It settles down some before 3 minutes then a catchy horn led section takes over a minute later that lasts to the end.

"Shamash" features that DEUS EX MACHINA violinist. Experimental sounds to start. I believe that's guitar as the synths create atmosphere. It kicks in heavily just before 2 minutes. So good! That organ is incredible. It does settle back briefly though before 4 1/2 minutes with some interesting violin as the drums crash the scene then it kicks back in again. The violin starts to shred then we get another calm before 6 minutes that is exotic and experimental. This reminds me of Krautrock believe it or not. It kicks back in with violin.

"Idios Cosmos" opens with a horn melody and it will come and go as powerful outbreaks trade off with it. An experimental calm follows then it kicks in before 2 1/2 minutes with honking horns and in your face organ and drums. Love this earth moving organ along with the Fender Rhodes as the horns blast away. A spacey calm before 4 1/2 minutes then it starts to build a minute later with honking horns, organ and drums again.

"E Verde E L'ignoto Su Chi Corri" is a top three for me. Intricate sounds to start with cymbals as well. This reminds me of Sweden here. Drums just before a minute. Guest female vocals before 1 1/2 minutes in this more laid back setting. She's really good. Check out the subtle keys 4 1/2 minutes in and again Sweden comes to mind. What a moving track for me. Mellotron waves continue to roll in to the end.

"Marienkirche" is experimental at first I'm not sure if these are samples or not but they vaguely remind me of a train but the sound is deconstructed it would seem. It fades away anyways as organ and atmosphere take over but soon that opening soundscape is back after 2 minutes to the end. Love that they did something that "out there" on here.

"Di Eccezione In Variante" along with "Shamash" make my top five. Check out the picked guitar melodies along with the keys and atmosphere. Drums after a minute. Soon it's drums and keys only then the guitar starts to echo. Gotta love the electric piano and drums here. It's becoming more powerful then the guitar comes to the fore after 3 minutes. Killer organ too in this amazing section that kicks ass! A calm with keys 5 minutes in before kicking back in heavily once more.

"Ulis" opens with keys and cymbals before it kicks in rather heavily with horns over top. Catchy stuff. A calm arrives but not for long as the organ joins the energetic soundscape as the horns blast away. It settles back again with electric piano, a beat and some innovative horns. So good!

"Eros Vs Anteros" is my final top three track. We get an ethnic vibe to start as horns and an energetic sound lead the way. The keys bring AREA to mind. Nice rhythm section before a minute as the guitar solos over top. Incredible! Checkout the organ after 4 minutes, this sounds amazing. It settles back 6 minutes in with some acoustic guitar and more before kicking back in with horns over top. This section is really repetitive until we get a change 8 minutes in as the organ replaces the horns and rips it up. The horns are back! Suddenly it's acoustic guitar only after 9 minutes to the end.

"Il Violato Intatto" ends the album in style as we get electronics at first as a deep atmosphere rolls in. Sounds start to drone as well. Interesting. Distorted keys and a determined beat take over around 3 minutes. Horns lead before 5 minutes as it stays fairly heavy. There's that distorted organ again. Electronics only before 5 1/2 minutes like the intro but then the drums and horns return. Horns only before 7 minutes.

This has impressed me like little else this year other than the WOBBLER recording. Easily 5 stars and possibly my album of the year. - Mellotron Storm

[miamiscot]

I need to spend some time with these guys. Never heard a single note.
(Must correct this.)

[Trane]

certainly in my top 10 prog albums of last year.

[Sputnik]

Violato Intatto is AdC's 4th studio album and received pretty high praise since its release in 2017. I enjoy it like I have their previous work, but I personally am getting less out of it than previous releases (specifically Kinesis and Kublai) as it feels little new is being said. However independently I still enjoy it.

It took me a bit of time to get into this album. I confess, at first I was a little disappointed, so I can understand your feelings. I'm personally less concerned with a band saying something "new" as I am saying something that resonates, and at first I had trouble getting into more than a few of the tracks. I was particularly troubled by what I perceived as a "lull" in the middle of the record, where they pursue more sedate/abstract pieces and also where the vocal track is. So the pacing seemed a bit "off" to me, like they got away from their central sound for too long.

My other major hesitation about the album stems from the lack of bass. Yeah, I'm a bass player, so maybe I'm biased, but I do really notice the absence of the bass in some of these songs as an anchor point. I think it really impacts the keyboard player, whose solos and other parts sometimes seem to lack intensity because either he is covering a left hand bass part, or the underpinning drops out. I think the instrumentation shaped the compositions, and that overall they did a good job covering, but there are moments where having the bass would have helped, and I remain unclear why they didn't try to replace their bass player.

Over time, though, I found I was hearing more and more in the tracks I didn't like as much, and that the overall arc of the album wasn't as bad as I'd first thought. My focus started shifted from individual sections or songs, to more of a sense of listening to the album holistically, like one big sprawling composition. In that way, the "lull" in the middle made more sense, and I actually found myself looking forward to that part of the "program," or that "movement," as it were. It's a long record, longer than I usually like, and I'd have probably ended the album with Eros Vs Anteros, which feels like a good conclusion point. But I had no trouble spinning it regularly over the summer, and it never left the little stack by my CD player until late in the fall.

This narrowly slipped out of my top three of the year. Despite all my hesitations, I find I can put this album on and pretty much enjoy it from start to finish, and that the time flies by. But I enjoy it for different reasons than their previous efforts. It isn't my favorite AdC album, Kinesis still gets that distinction. But I'd put it on par with Kublai, and I like it better than their third, self-titled album.

Bill

[NogbadTheBad]

Giving it a first proper listen since I got it when it came out, it seems to have passed me by quite a bit.

[Zappathustra]

It's an excellent record, nothing less than that. Is it as good as, let's say, Kublai? I don't know, maybe not, but who cares? There are so many beautiful ideas in this one, making it a very pleasant listening from start to finish. Shamash - with the Mahavishnian violin -, Idios Cosmos, Eros Anteros, and of course E Verde...etc, with its moving Picchio Dal Pozzo vibe, are all stellar. Maybe they should experiment with lyrics and singing more, possibly in the future. Because it does feel that the band has reached some peak with Violato, some sort of limit.

The way they have "covered" the absence of bass playing is ingenious obviously. I don't know if this abscence was a necessity or a conscious choice. But I am also of the opinion that a bass player fits a lot with the style of music they're playing.

[Udi Koomran]

They are planing for the double vinyl version of this album
it is going to be slightly different from the cd different sequencing
the will record 2 new tracks for it in about a month time
also a new album is already composed and will be probably recorded late 2018
This time I plan to be at the session with Loris Ceroni their brilliant engineer

[Trane]

They are planing for the double vinyl version of this album
it is going to be slightly different from the cd different sequencing

Given that the CD is alrerady 73 minutes-long, this sounds like a plight to force buying the LP

Not sure I will be a pigeon... I'll be waiting for the 30 years remastrers with bonus tracks CD reissue

[Sputnik]

They are planing for the double vinyl version of this album
it is going to be slightly different from the cd different sequencing
the will record 2 new tracks for it in about a month time
also a new album is already composed and will be probably recorded late 2018
This time I plan to be at the session with Loris Ceroni their brilliant engineer

Good to hear about a new album, I'll be in for that. Definitely not in for vinyl, and a little bummed to miss two tracks of a band I've supported faithfully. Hopefully they'll make them available on CD in the future.

Bill

[Accordo dei Contrari]

Dear All,

Thank you very much for your appreciation, your sensitive listening of, and impressions on, Violato Intatto. 2015-16 was a period of high inspiration for me. I composed a lot of stuff - more than the usual - and we were compelled to put the result into one cd only for budget reasons.

Rather than a double album, Violato Intatto may be perhaps considered as a two-albums-in-one, for two parts are distinguished, Violato (tracks from 1 to 6) and Intatto (tracks from 7 to 11). This said, Violato Intatto is also a whole, and can be experienced as such (as happens to the listener of the cd). In a interview I released before the publication of the album, I said that I conceived the single tracks as "mo(ve)ments", so I’m very pleased that some of you sensed this (Bill, you are great!).

Flexibility in both music and arrangement is important for us. As for the absence of electric bass, it was a conscious choice. We just wanted to push our boundaries, and we started to do that. The main stuff of Violato Intatto was composed for trio (keys, drums, guitar: see, for example, Di eccezione in variante) or quartet (keys, drums, guitar, sax: see, for example, Folia saxifraga, Monodia), with addition of further instruments here and there (see the violin in Shamash, or the vocals in E verde è l’ignoto su cui corri).

This is not to say that, in the future, electric bass will not come back. Quite the contrary: indeed some of the music I composed for the next album has both electric and acoustic bass.

Giovanni

[interbellum]

Just listened to this album again. I really like it, although I'm not familair with their previous recording. The thing I like about it most is the terrific groove most of the songs have, which is quite uncommon in progressive rock.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

I cannot add much to what has been said about this truly wonderful band, who get better, more impressive, more experimental, and more fantastic with each new release!!
And in my humble opinion they, and Deus Ex Machina, are the only bands flying the flag that represents the REAL spirit of Italian progressive rock. Without AdC and DxM, in my mind, there is no Italian progressive rock!!
I love each and every one of their albums, and each and every one of them as musical adventurers....and most importantly, I love them as people. You will likely never meet a more gracious, fun, loving group of guys!
I can't name a specific starting album for newcomers....pick up any one of their discs. You can't go wrong!!

[NogbadTheBad]

Giving it a first proper listen since I got it when it came out, it seems to have passed me by quite a bit.

Got a hell of a lot more out of it this time round, some stuff on their that really connects with me, must make sure to keep it in rotation in the coming months.

[Scrotum Scissor]

That part in the middle of "Lester" (the opening track on the debut AdC) where after a repetitive solo passage there are eruptions of combined organ/guitar chords overlaying - this is one of my favourite moments in all of progressive rock. I remember playing that at full blast from a stereo on board my (now long since defunct) speedboat out in the free ocean, no coast in sight and sun screaming from a clear sky, Martini Rosso in my glass, heading for summer holidays in 2011 - Incredible!

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I like all their albums up to this one but have not had the time to sit and listen to this one yet. There are a couple of albums that came out in 2017 that I have not yet heard enough to finalize my 2017 list. This one should get a thorough play this week...

[Zappathustra]

I think the extra-size of the record intimidates a lot of people. But it's so much fun. I even dance to Eros Anteros with my 3 years old daughter!

[Accordo dei Contrari]

Dear All,

This is fantastic! Thank you very much for sharing details about your personal experience(s) of listening to Accordo dei Contrari. This is a precious gift to me and the other guys in the band.

Giovanni

[TheH]

Dear All,

This is fantastic! Thank you very much for sharing details about your personal experience(s) of listening to Accordo dei Contrari. This is a precious gift to me and the other guys in the band.

Giovanni

We have to thank you for the music!

[Crawford Glissadevil]

Got it. Love it. I'm thinking Accordo dei Contrari's album might be the best Jazz Fusion album of the 2000's. I really do. 2017 was a banner year for the Italians!

[Fracktured]

Dear All,

Thank you very much for your appreciation, your sensitive listening of, and impressions on, Violato Intatto. 2015-16 was a period of high inspiration for me. I composed a lot of stuff - more than the usual - and we were compelled to put the result into one cd only for budget reasons.

Rather than a double album, Violato Intatto may be perhaps considered as a two-albums-in-one, for two parts are distinguished, Violato (tracks from 1 to 6) and Intatto (tracks from 7 to 11). This said, Violato Intatto is also a whole, and can be experienced as such (as happens to the listener of the cd). In a interview I released before the publication of the album, I said that I conceived the single tracks as "mo(ve)ments", so I’m very pleased that some of you sensed this (Bill, you are great!).

Giovanni

I've found that approaching this as two parts of a whole makes the record much more enjoyable. I tried rearranging the tracks but it didn't work until I realized how to approach it. Brilliant! Love the album and look forward to the next one already.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

In my top 3 for the year. A stellar record.

[Udi Koomran]

The vinyl edition has been mastered with 2 new tracks added !
what a joy

[Mascodagama]

Nice!

I hope the extra tracks will be made available to download at some point for those of us who got the CD.

[Sputnik]

Typing this from my hotel room in Bologna. Almost had a chance to meet with Giovanni, AdC's keyboard player, but sadly he's out of town. Still looking forward to a visit to Scolopendra.

Anyway, AdC are among my favorite active Prog bands and this is probably my second favorite of theirs after the debut. Took me a few spins to get my ears around it, but once I did I really came to enjoy it.

Want to catch them when they come to the States later this year.

Bill

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

[Fracktured]

Typing this from my hotel room in Bologna. Almost had a chance to meet with Giovanni, AdC's keyboard player, but sadly he's out of town. Still looking forward to a visit to Scolopendra.

Anyway, AdC are among my favorite active Prog bands and this is probably my second favorite of theirs after the debut. Took me a few spins to get my ears around it, but once I did I really came to enjoy it.

Want to catch them when they come to the States later this year.

Bill

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

Well that’s a real bummer. You should get them to have you record the bass on the album and rerelease it. You don’t realize how much impact a good baseline can make until it’s not there. I’ve grown to enjoy this album for what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. Some great music here and it takes time to get into it. But I don’t hear a hit single anywhere on the album. [emoji23] the first one is a monster.


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