Only the most Progressive of spirit will have the staying power to truly get to this album's heart.
The coming together of Greek song-writer Pedro J. Capparos (Breed 77) and Andy Mitchell, who was until recently the front-man in The Yardbirds, L'Anima is a deeply Progressive outfit eagerly looking to push boundaries. Hitting like the outcome of an experiment grafting Pain Of Salvation onto Periphery, or The Contortionist, where the result was repeatedly tortured and then caressed, L'Anima and their debut 'Departures' is a tough nut to crack. Never afraid to divert down an alley crammed with notes or sprawling fret-board excursions, yet equally likely to crush you with a riff of evil intent, what's been crafted here is a conglomeration of big choruses that hug you eagerly. However, with countless uber-technical demonstrations, the instrumental sections never quite know whether to add to an already eclectic show and tell, or to simply delight in their own entanglements. That in itself is the challenge, 'The Sound Of Waves' or 'Gema' perfectly willing to let you in to their own little world, but only if you can unlock the code of discordant offshoots and tricky time signatures.
Vocally Mitchell is given the freedom to stretch in any direction he pleases and like everything else on 'Departures', he's more than eager to show as many sides to his abilities as possible. Small and subtle one moment, shouting from the roof tops the next, before offering up some of the sweetest multi-layered harmonies and melodies you could wish to hear. In the end you'll either be completely swept up in the maelstrom or utterly tuned out by the pretentious little spoken sections and clever-cleverness of it all.
L'Anima are talented and tight. In fact, hugely so, but at times the sheer lack of compromise can leave this debut more like a frustrating puzzle that you can't quite unlock, rather than being the crafted thing of complex beauty that's often hinted at. Leaving it distinctly possible that only the most Progressive of spirit will have the staying power to truly get to this album's heart.
Steven Reid
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