It is, perhaps, fair to state that the world’s most famous power trio in rock, and certainly in progressive rock circles, are Rush.
Well, from Italy, we have a power trio with a wee bit of a critical difference – one without a guitarist. Intrigued? So, was I, so join me in a discussion of a fine album.
The band was formed by Italian French composer, keyboardist, singer, producer, musicologist and artistic director (well known to readers of this website and listeners to my radio show), Alex Carpani, and Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (founder and leader of Italian prog band Mangala Vallis) in late 2016. In 2018, they released their eponymous debut album.
Come 2025, and we have Rethink, released September 19th. They are joined by Jacopo Rossi on bass, a familiar name on the international metal circuit. All the protagonists have collaborated with top artists, and their musical pedigree is impeccable.
You can get the debut and this at https://aerostation.bandcamp.com/album/aerostation and also worth popping along to http://www.alexcarpani.com/aerostation/ for some further details about everything.
From the band, the album is about a new beginning: rethinking your life, your role in life, your priorities, the people you surround yourself with, the feelings you put before everything else, the fears you leave behind, the new fears you face, the love you experience like never before, the soul that guides us and is guided, the spirituality that takes on new forms and takes up new spaces within us. We have eleven tracks to discuss, and I would urge those of you who also appreciate the visual artistic side of works to drink in the lush images on this album. A huge amount of care and attention has gone into it.
I did play the first single, Drive My Soul, on my radio show last month.
So, let’s play some music and discuss.
The Drive is a short introductory piece, the first dive into the unknown leading to a new beginning. Less than a minute long, it is intriguing in its use of sound, especially the sounds putting across that anticipation of what is to come.
It segues into A Distant Cry. A cry heard in the distance echoes between dream and reality, creating apprehension and fear. This slowly disappears when the person next to you faces this mysterious journey with you, holding your hand. The impact of the noise is instant, the contrast stark to what preceded it. It is incredibly catchy. Commercial is regarded as a dirty word in some prog circles, but not here in Lazland, because this one shows the same type of commercial rock sensibility you will hear from the likes of Riverside or Porcupine Tree. It is loud, the vocals of Carpani strongly melodic, soaring in places, and the rhythm section is as good as you will hear anywhere, Rossi playing some impossibly complex notes at times. I have embedded this below.
Life is Calling has a message which resonates with me strongly: Life has a very strong call that moves the forces that make us get up when we fall and support us. I agree. We will all fall down during our lives. It is how we react and use the supporting forces, if we allow them at all, that define us as human beings. The bass from Rossi is stunning – have I found my new Geddy Lee? His partnership with Cocchi is, believe me, the best you will have heard since those heady Lee & Peart days, but I mean this not to infer we have a sort of cover band. It is not. The overall sound is closer to the bands I referenced before, there is crucially no Lifeson here, but the cleverness of Carpani with his array of synths and virtual guitars means you don’t miss it at all. Heavy, bright, pounding, and superb. I just love the pulsing notes at the close.
Meet Me at the End of the World is a contender for this website’s “title of the year” award, for sure. Facing the pain, the fear of the dark in a desolate land with a person we would be ready to meet at the end of the world, knowing that we would never be alone. These are sentiments I again hold strongly; it is perhaps the very definition of a true friend and loved one. We don’t have many, and neither should we. The start is heavy electronic rock before some riffs intrude and the voice narrates the felling, the bass guitar pounding, and then we get a heavy-duty rap before the chorus, a surprise, but surprisingly effective and good. There is such a pleasing intensity to this track, including some magnificent synth riffs. Enjoy it embedded below.
The Wait is Over; The heart beats regularly like a clock, time marks the moments of waiting that at a certain point ends and leaves room for new scenarios, new experiences. The clock ticks, relentless, urgently. Carpani’s vocals are excellent, his use of the virtual guitar very clever, some very dystopian sounds emanating from his keys. Heavy progressive rock at its most urgent and finest.
Drive My Soul is the excellent first single I played on my radio show recently, and it is embedded below for you to enjoy here. Sometimes we need someone to guide us not only by holding our hand and walking the path with us, but also to guide our soul, from within. An alien, guiding us, leading us to a new life and awareness. The cry of “I recall. I am an alien” is from the deepest part of Carpani’s diaphragm, and he does, indeed, scream his lungs out here, the riffs thunderous, a stunning piece of music, such a gorgeous bass melody on this, and the close a heavy symphonic masterpiece.
Life is Too Short follows. Life sometimes seems too short, like a day drawing to a close when instead we would like it to continue because we have so much to do, to live, to say, and as we have had a family bereavement in this household recently, at a good age of 83, you realise that it flows so quickly, but I cling to the hope that there is not an end to the day/life, and we burst out to continue, someone there to save us from the end. Given the subject matter, you might be expecting something melancholic, but it isn’t. It is a bright piece, some of the riffs flying above you in a processional manner, some bursts of funk amongst it, I believe the writers and performers safe in the knowledge that someone, indeed, is there to save us.
Fly Over Me; Only a person we trust, to whom we have opened our heart, can we ask to always fly above us, like a bird that watches over us and shows the way. It could be written about the love of my life, my beautiful wife, with whom I look forward to taking a ride to eternity with. The start is almost hymnal, the synths brooding, the voice pensive, then the percussion begins to drive us along, the whole thing building up as it goes along, before the chorus blooms in a joyous noise, and this is, incidentally, something this album does so well, the use of true choruses to provide a central beacon to the spirit of the songs. The synth work as we move to the close is soaring, full of light, parts of it reminding me of some of Pendragon’s work circa Passion.
Soulshine; The soul shines and illuminates everything with its light when it is full of love and goodness, when it is just. Stars and lights dance in the sky. This is the longest track on the album but is still sub-six-minutes. No epics, and not once do you yearn for one – this is an album which demands to be heard as a whole anyway, a series of intertwined pieces. The female voice is a dystopian chant, before the main piece settles down into a thoughtful commentary, synths, virtual guitars, bass, and drums combining into a lesson on how to collaborate musically, some of this as it moves along really sumptuous and moving, the contrast with the feminine voice an interesting one, and the sharp change of pace and energy at the four minute mark is quite stark, slowing down for a sort of interlude before the trio burst forth in a bright loud noise.
Run as the Sun Goes Down is the penultimate piece; Sometimes we have to run, as soon as the sun sets, as soon as daylight gives way to night, to seek salvation, to find a way out. Lost souls in fields of gold, run as the sun goes down. The underlying riffs are so strong on this, the rhythm section taking us on that primeval urge to run, to escape the dark, to move towards the light, escaping failure, embracing something new. Above it all, the synths move across the piece so swiftly, just like clouds racing along on an atmospheric wind. It has funk breathing passages, but, in the main, this is a modern heavy blues track bringing something quite distinctive to the 2025 musical scene.
We close with Messiah; The unexpected encounter with a mysterious and saving figure, off the beaten path, who changes our lives. We will sail to the moon until we find our Messiah. The opening notes are orchestral, with a crackle vinyl beneath. The vocals take centre stage, as a conductor guiding the sounds around him, an intense experience, bringing a deeply spiritual album to its conclusion, the synths building to a crescendo.
There is, of course, a new occupant at The Vatican, and I still have fond memories of a couple of weeks in Rome in 1989. I think I might return, if only to see Pope Leo and present that interesting new pontiff with a copy of this wonderful album, an example of how intelligent spiritual music doesn’t have to conform to ancient mores, but is part of an evolving, progressive movement.
Rethink is sheer class and joins those albums of 2025 as an essential purchase.