Gnosis Ratings

Reviews:

Mike McLatchey 4-April-2001 Four Daisies, Stillsearching

Arcansiel, led by Marco Galleti, were one of the first in the wave of new Italian progressives in the late 80's, combining symphonic rock influences with modern pop stylings. Their music lies close to the 80's British neo-progressive school with hints of bands like iQ and Marillion, although Arcansiel never employ the suite format to great success, and, mostly, keep it short and to the point. On their debut, Four Daisies By Arcansiel (Contempo 142, CD), the music is weighed down too much by the lead-footed drummer and the rhythms are very pop-styled, eschewing all but the superficial elements of symphonic rock such as string chords and depressingly minor keys. If it wasn't for Galleti's Gabriel like voice, at times you could easily mistake this for U2, OMD, The Police or other similar acts. It's symphonic rock, but not of the adventurous sort. On their second, Stillsearching (Contempo 143, CD), little has changed. Although Arcansiel have improved on their formula by adding sax and other instrumentation, and have tried to diversify their music with more attention given to dynamics, the music still remains plain and dull to me. It's better produced and a bit more colorful, but certainly not enough to make we want to investigate any further into their catalog.
(originally reviewed as part of The New Italian Progressive Rock Scene (part 1), Exposé #3, p. 6, Edited for Gnosis 3/17/01)

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Mike McLatchey	4-April-2001	Four Daisies, Stillsearching
Arcansiel, led by Marco Galleti, were one of the first in the wave of new Italian progressives in the late 80's, combining symphonic rock influences with modern pop stylings. Their music lies close to the 80's British neo-progressive school with hints of bands like iQ and Marillion, although Arcansiel never employ the suite format to great success, and, mostly, keep it short and to the point. On their debut, Four Daisies By Arcansiel (Contempo 142, CD), the music is weighed down too much by the lead-footed drummer and the rhythms are very pop-styled, eschewing all but the superficial elements of symphonic rock such as string chords and depressingly minor keys. If it wasn't for Galleti's Gabriel like voice, at times you could easily mistake this for U2, OMD, The Police or other similar acts. It's symphonic rock, but not of the adventurous sort. On their second, Stillsearching (Contempo 143, CD), little has changed. Although Arcansiel have improved on their formula by adding sax and other instrumentation, and have tried to diversify their music with more attention given to dynamics, the music still remains plain and dull to me. It's better produced and a bit more colorful, but certainly not enough to make we want to investigate any further into their catalog. (originally reviewed as part of The New Italian Progressive Rock Scene (part 1), Exposé #3, p. 6, Edited for Gnosis 3/17/01)
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