Storie Invisibili by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

Prog? It's infused in every track, even though there are no suites but songs. In each one, I found very clear progressions that hark back to the prog I like.

A bit of electronica in the rhythm section, but that's fine in 2025. There's a lot of 4/4, but not always, and the keyboard and guitar riffs are beautiful.

The cover art looks back to the band's early days. Very beautiful.

Studenti: A very timely theme, student protests and the call for young people to be an active part of change, protesting the world they've been left with, and a look back at the protests in France. "Resistance, Resistance, Resistance once again... Paris is calling us now, we no longer have time for chatter and slogans." "Don't leave your future to others, it's yours."

Il mietitore: It's about farm labor, toiling in the elements, the great mission of "cultivating the world," increasingly difficult under the exploitation of inadequately paid labor. The prog keyboard riff that closes the song is beautiful.

Il pittore:: Inspired by the play of light in Caravaggio's paintings, a painter talks about his paintings and, despite the appearance of melancholy and loneliness, he actually tells us that he isn't. He shares his vision of the world through his paintings, he depicts love. Musically dreamy.

Non sono pazzo: He talks about the standardization to which everyone is subjected, with the barcode "as if I were a freeze-dried product."

Here too, the syncopated interlude made of keyboards and drums is truly beautiful. "To change the world, auto-tune isn't enough" would be enough to explain this piece.

L’ultimo moro dell’Alhambra: It tells a piece of history, the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. It brings to mind all those situations in which a people was driven from the land where they lived. "Hey, why would you leave where I was born screaming?" A beautiful piece, here the band has fun with a wonderful old-school ride.

Senza Nuvole: a timeless love lived clinging to everyday life, which despite the difficulties, in union lives a life "without clouds." I identified with this song. Very beautiful. And true, it can happen if you're lucky.

La casa blu: an intro from another era and a bit of electronic pollution that fits right in. Without getting into geopolitics, it self-criticizes the moral distance we've had since the war in Ukraine: "But where were you while I was screaming, while I was running away, where was I?"

An inevitable distance, as we lived our daily lives, but it makes us think that perhaps more could have been done.

Sarà Ottobre:: The youth's desire for freedom during the Russian Revolution in October 1917, told through electric prog. The desire for justice that is always ready to return... when it's October again.

Cena di Natale: A fairytale-style ballad that harks back to the 1970s. It speaks to the rejection of Christmas traditions by many for purely nonconformist reasons, while it's actually a holiday that unites, beyond religious beliefs.

Spiegami il cielo:: A man's long-awaited encounter with aliens (and the music clearly tells us when they arrive), and when they arrive, the first question is "explain the sky to me." "The universe has too many rooms to know only about us." "How much freedom there is when you look up, how immense the sky is without us."

Solo meraviglia: The gaze of an adult on a child, the wonder in his eyes. A simple lyric that describes emotions we've all felt. "Sometimes I'm afraid of what you'll encounter, I know you're bound to make mistakes, and I can't do it for you."

Capo Horn:: The sailor's distance from his loved ones (I know this well...). The distance between the search for something new, the mystery of discovery, the awareness that someone is waiting for us, awaiting our return.

I didn't think so many of these invisible stories spoke to me and my everyday thoughts. A beautiful album that's a must-have in any complete collection of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's work.

The Tracks

1. Students (3:16)
2. The Reaper (3:36)
3. The Painter (3:26)
4. I'm Not Crazy (2:56)
5. The Last Moor of the Alhambra (4:28)
6. Without Clouds (3:59)
7. The Blue House (4:41)
8. It Will Be October (3:41)
9. Christmas Dinner (2:21)
10. Explain the Sky to Me (4:59)
11. Only Wonder (2:27)
12. Cape Horn (5:24)

Running Time 45:14

The Lineup

- Tony D'Alessio - lead vocals
- Vittorio Nocenzi - organ, synthesizer, vocals
- Michelangelo Nocenzi - piano, keyboards
- Filippo Marcheggiani - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Marco Capozi - bass
- Dario Esposito - drums