Porto Antico Prog Fest 2023 - Genova

The line-up for 2023’s Porto Antico Prog Fest included two must-see headline acts but I was also pleased to see Monkey Diet on the bill, having bought their recent second album ‘Ant Death Spiral’ earlier in the year. It was also an important occasion for hosts Black Widow Records who were welcoming back Malombra, one of the founding acts of their record label. Malombra is a band associated with the dark Italian sound, appearing to promote a new album ‘T.R.E.S.’ which was written between 1997 and 1998 but left unreleased until this year when the recording and mixing were completed by the band’s current line-up.

Verona-based Dark Ages were Saturday’s first act performing tracks from 2022’s ‘Between Us’. This was well executed melodic prog-metal reminiscent of Dream Theater, most notable for the outstanding keyboard work of Angela Busato and the flamboyance of vocalist Roberto Roverselli.
Witchwood were more heavy rock than prog, though Jethro Tull are cited as an influence along with Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult and the majority of their set, made up from the 2020 album ‘Before the Winter’ which had never before been performed in a live setting plus a cover of Uriah Heep’s single ‘Gypsy’ from 1970, conformed to either blues or southern rock idioms. They were evidently very capable musicians, with keyboard player Stefano Olivi deserving particular credit.
Sophya Baccini’s Aradia were late to start after an extended sound check and the delayed arrival of guitarist/saxophonist Sonia Scialanca. They were debuting a new album ‘Runnin’ with the Wolves’, released on vinyl that day and easily outshined the two previous acts with their theatrical dark prog with its extended musical palette.
I saw Änglagård in 2014 when they played the UK for the first time and I’ve become a huge fan. 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of ‘Hybris’, an album that placed the group in the vanguard of the third wave of prog, embracing the analogue sounds and instrumentation abandoned during the late 70s. The premise was to play all of ‘Hybris’ plus some tracks that had never before been aired live and the taped introduction ‘Prolog’, ‘Gånglåt från Knapptibble’, ‘Höstsejd’, ‘Ur vilande’, ‘Jordrök’, ‘Vandringar i vilsenhet’ and ‘Ifrån klarhet till klarhet’ raised the quality of the evening to new heights. Disappointingly, just as ‘Kung Bore’ was being announced a curfew was imposed, the first time I’ve witnessed such enforcement at the Prog Fest, highlighting the potential difficulties involved when organising festivals.

Sunday 6th August began with Monkey Diet who I found interesting because of the backgrounds of each of the three members. Bassist and occasional keyboard player Daniele Piccinini used to play in Accordo dei Contrari, a prog-jazz band I saw in Rome in 2017, guitarist Gabriele Martelli was from the 4/4 averse PropheXy who I saw with Richard Sinclair at the Riviera Prog Fest in 2014 and drummer Roberto Bernadi who was very active in Bologna underground scene and had been part of a Genesis tribute act. This mix of styles resulted in complex music taking in post-rock, prog-jazz and psyche, and was really gripping.
Malombra, under the guidance of vocalist Mercy, supported by original guitarist Matteo Ricci and new recruits Giulio Gaietto and Fabio Cuomo, played a set of heavy rock without coming close to prog but it was evident that they had a large number of supporters in the audience. Mercy addressed the crowd between songs decrying the time restraint imposed on their set length but I worried that ignoring strict time limits would curtail the act I’d most wanted to see at the end of the evening, and this didn’t help warm my feelings towards the band.
Deathless Legacy was possibly the greatest surprise of the weekend. More familiar to the metal crowd they released the 24-minute long EP ‘Saturnalia’ in 2020 with symphonic/operatic flourishes and moved more into Ayreon musical territory. I believe it was this piece which formed the basis of their set, performed as the soundtrack to expressionist theatre with a gothic-esoteric-horror plot set in ancient Rome during the feast of Saturnalia but it was rather difficult to follow with so much going on. Singer Steva may have had an incredible voice but the acting was distracting and I had difficulty taking it seriously. Perhaps it was meant to be funny but I found myself laughing at the players, not with them.

Area International Popular Group, one of the great Italian bands of the 70s are now represented by Area Open Project, a group under the guidance of original keyboard player Patrizio Fariselli who had been invited to mark the 50th anniversary of ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’. This music is extraordinary and is rightly hailed as a masterpiece. It’s complex, passionate and political and I’d have been happy to travel to Genoa only to see this one performance. Most of the album hadn’t been played live for over 40 years, with the material dropped from the repertoire after the personnel changes resulting in ‘Caution Radiation Area’. Fariselli had assembled a group of talented musicians for Area Open Project with his brother Stefano on woodwinds, Marco Micheli on bass, Walter Paoli on drums and Claudia Tellini on vocals. The adaptations to ‘Arbeit Mach Frei’ and previously unreleased music performed in concert in the 1970s worked superbly and there were times when Tellini sounded very much like Demetrio Stratos, a musician I used to think was one of a kind.
What a fantastic way to end the Prog Fest.