Even Flow is a progressive metal band from Italy, formed in 2000 by brothers Pietro Paolo (guitar) and Giorgio (drums). To date, the band have released two albums – ‘Ancient Memories’ (2011) and ‘Life Has Just Begun’ (2017) – and three E.P.’s – ‘Flower Paths’ (2013), ‘Mother’ (2019), and ‘Mediterraneo’, released in 2022…
…featuring five songs of vivid imagination and far-reaching ideas. Over the years the band have undergone many line-up changes – today the band are completed by bass player Luca Negro (Temperance, Wonders) and singer Marco Pastorino (Fallen Sanctuary, Temperance, Wonders). This current Even Flow line-up also recorded and released the superb 2021 Wonders debut album ‘The Fragments Of Wonder’. Over the years, Even Flow has toured extensively across Europe, and performed at the Sweden Rock Festival and Rock The Castle in Villafranca di Verona.
The band’s new E.P. is twenty-three minutes of visionary musical prowess, all getting underway with a thunderous thirty-second opening to the first song ‘Ocean Lies’, settling into a meandering path of light and sensuous progressive metal. The tempo changes throughout ‘Ocean Lies’ are seamless, the band performing with the delicate touch of a magician, the calming sounds of a relaxation tape, and the aroma of fine wine – the sight, sound, and smell of ‘Ocean Lies’ spreading its wings and pointing the listener in the dreamy direction of ‘Ray Of Light’. And a much mellower sound than heard previously. Not so mellow that a ballad-like atmosphere rises high in the air, but just enough to cause listeners to tilt their heads backward, closing their eyes and allowing their minds to drift off to a serene and very safe place.
Clocking in at under three minutes in length ‘Leaves’ is a slow wander with a loved one through a field on a hot summer’s day – the feeling of a light breeze as soothing as the song’s keyboard-led mastery. And at only six seconds longer than ‘Leaves’, ‘Revelation Day’ is a heavier-hitting stroll of headbang ability. Yes – head bang ability…who would have thought it! The E.P. up until now not showing the oomph or energy for listeners to rock their heads back and forth – ‘Revelation Day’ is the heaviest metal song on offer. The final offering is the title song, the seven-and-a-half minute marathon ‘Mediterraneo’, and a Middle Eastern feel as the song gets underway. And then we’re treated to wave after wave of epic and majestic movements, rolling from side to side and rocking from left to right.
The swing of ‘Mediterraneo’ (the song) is mesmerising and intoxicating, keeping you fully attentive from start to finish.
Overall, a cracking crescendo of infectious warmth and vibrancy, ‘Mediterraneo’ E.P. is highly addictive.
TRACKLIST
Ocean Lies
Ray Of Light
Leaves
Revelation Day
Mediterraneo
Even Flow: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: self-released
Category: EP
Country: Italy
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire, and Metal-Roos.
