What will ever be this “Archeo-futuristic alternative”? Alternative to what? Alternative to a materialistic society in favour of a new spiritual dimension of man; “archeo” it’s referred to the musical journey undertaken by the band towards all artistic experience grown up between Sixties and Seventies, while “futuristic” refers to a project that looks for new communicative spaces. This is the meaning of “Paria”, the new album from the Nihil Project duo.

The artwork reminds us to the “Weltaanschaung” of the band: Asia and Orient, aboriginals and witch-doctors, a “turn in, tune in, drop out now” that bring us back to Timothy Leary. The work involves many artists but the two masterminds are two musicians from Florence: Antonello Cresti and Andrea “Janex” Gianessi. Their project which “live in the world but it’s not f this world” takes shape thank to the interesting of Giancarlo Passarella, one of the most famous and appreciated name of Italian underground movement. It’s not a case that “Paria” is the first release issued by “Ululati Dall’Underground”, a new interesting indie-label. The album is full of special guests, for example Maurilio Rossi, mastermind of legendary prog band Goad and producer of this album.

The materialization of this “Archeo futuristic alternative” becomes real in the opening track “La realtà è la mia illusione” with Hypnowave, the obscure guest: loops and vocal samples, a real psychedelic attitude and some recalls to Vedic tradition. The song with its cyberpunk sounds like something between Ozric Tentacles and Prodigy.

The manifest track is “Altered state of consciousness”: the altered states of conscience are only a starting point for a great jam: free jazz, noise, space rock and avant-garde are used for a reflection about times, spaces, people and illusions. In this chapter we find some great artists of Italian prog movement: Claudio Rocchi & Cinzia Defendenti, Mino di Martino (Giganti, Telaio Magnetico and Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale). “Thelema” (with the collaboration of Walter Maioli, former with  Aktuala) is a charming song with its hypnotic world music that has some references to Aktuala and to the unknown band N.A.D.M.A. “Llanfair…” gives us different kind of sensations of undistinguished provenances: far echoes of Demetrio Stratos’ s voice are mixed with various kind of noises; moreover the song it’s an excellent example of contamination between music and symbols.

“Eletric dawn” is a visionary heavy episode among burning guitars, electronics and Juri Camisaca’s echoes. “Alienazione metropolitana” is symbolic of the use of “collage” used by the band: a delicious spoken intro by Carmelo Bene (unforgettable and discussed Italian actor) with a mixture of Beatles, Sakamoto and fragments captured from the radio: it could remember the avant-garde reached by Battiato in an album like “Clic”; Battiato backs again in “La metafisica delle vette” an obsessive modern esoteric dark: the new Jacula?

The album goes on with “…(Silence)”, a muzak grows up with moog and trumpet which make us shudder because of Walter Catalano’s mysterious Egyptian descriptions. “Sequentia” is another shuddering song, a religious intonation above some extract from the Jodorowsky cult-movie “ The Holy Mountain”.

“Paria” it’s not only a progressive rock album but “progressive” it’s the expression communicated; and not only for the great guests involved. The only defect is the excessive length of some songs which risk to be monotonous. Anyway the initiatory atmosphere we can breath listening to the album make it a little jewel of Italian underground movement.

“They live in the world but are not of this world”…Welcome Nihil Project