From the altogether beautiful island of Sicily, we have Ologram who have released their sophomore album, La Mia Scia (My Trail).

The project is ultimately owned by multi-instrumentalist Dario Gianni, but it is also something of a family affair. Dario writes the music and plays bass, Lorenzo plays guitar and writes most of the lyrics, and Roberto plays keys. The brothers are joined by Fabio Speranzo who provides the vocals and Giovanni Spadaro bashes the skins. Further, there are guest appearances by Gabriele Agosta (vocals), Mateo Blundo (viola, violin), and Raffaele Schiavo (vocals).

There are eight pieces of music here on a relatively (by modern standards) short thirty-five and a half minutes, but let’s look at them.

22.43 is a short introduction to the album, night has fallen. The voices and effects are rather wary of the journey ahead, I think.

Kasbah is essentially a citadel, a fortified quarter of a city, so think of The Castle of Milazzo in Sicily. This glorious noise is infused with the spirit of the near east, so think of Zep’s Kashmir fused with the traditional spirit of Italian progressive rock. It rips along at a fair old pace, even in the softer moments, some fine riffs and a solid rhythm section underpinning it all. I really like the acoustic guitar and voice interplay before we move to the closing passage. This solid start is embedded below.

Luna Piena (Full Moon) is presaged appropriately by a howling wolf. The skins work on this is tremendous, the bass guitar melodious to the core, a harder slab of rock, with pulsing riffs and very expressive vocals, and the more of this I listen, the more impressed I am by Lorenzo’s guitar work, providing a tasty solo. A track which really does deserve some wide airplay, I will be playing it shortly on my radio show.

Non sarai (You Will Not Be) takes a different direction, full of modern art rock, melancholic, and very well played by all, the bass guitar certainly at the heart of all that is good. Just short of the three-minute mark, there is an explosion of brightness with some gorgeous keyboard soundscapes leading the charge to a symphonic delight straight from the Wind & Wuthering playbook.

Jacaranda are flowers which grow on hillside gardens, and there is suitably pastoral impact in the lush opening acoustic guitar notes. This delight is embedded for you below, Speranzo absolutely pitch perfect in his words, the song building up nicely with Blundo adding strings alongside a choral mellotron. Simply lush.

Descent, so coming down the other side. It has some fascinating effects against an overtly orchestral rock composition, the strings and keyboards contrasting nicely with the heavier guitar and rhythm section riffs, in a track which is bright and breezy reminding me strongly of the stunningly beautiful island from where it was composed, a place and people full of passion for life.

The title track is the penultimate piece. It has that classic mellotron sound at the off, together with a lush jazz-infused band (there is a delicious bassline in this), the vocals expressive with some nice harmonies inherent, and I can’t help thinking that this is something which the world of commercial radio should be all over in a sensible world. Oh well, we live in strange and disturbing times. It is embedded below.

1997 finishes the set off for us. It is not far short of seven minutes long, and, thus, the longest track on the album. Again, there are some strong commercial sensibilities on this fine piece, with rich production values, and full sound combining the best of modern art rock with more classic undertones, the guitars especially rich, jazz bass booming out of the speakers, with Spadaro providing a masterclass in traversing the styles in his drumming. There is an urgency in the words and musical pace as we approach the closing passage two minutes out, before we come to the end of the trail with the most divine keyboard-led denouement, redolent of the finest of timeless symphonic rock.

I have read my good friend, The Prog Rogue’s review, and, as is usually the case, we are in total agreement on the quality of this fine album, which deserves wide support and attention. It is available on all major streaming platforms and YouTube.