Ianva: LA MANO DI GLORIA

The term “anticipated” usually appears in every worthy presentation. But in IANVA’s case, this is notjust a fixed expression. Currently at its third “date” with the full-length, this genovese band has progressively reached a wider audience, mainly because of a very unique style which drastically departs from the standard range of indie/underground musical scene, particularly for its significant articulation and use of creativity and its power of imagination.If IANVA"s last “Italia: Ultimo Atto” was a literal Descent into Hell, now it"s time to stand up and rise again.“La Mano di Gloria” is the secret tale - stretched from an emotional perspective - of a protest that is bothpopular and aristocratic; a protest organized by a minority, whose aims are the liberation of everyone,the extreme and ultimate answer from a shattered and wretched country, which, in spite of all tribulations, still maintains its power of surprising. To find the right atmosphere out for this scenery, it was necessary to leave History and enter the realms of Fiction. Set in the immediate future, “La Mano di Gloria”, from the homonymous novel by Mercy, is one more time a concept album whose plot is based on an Italy and a Europe living the terrible nightmare of an “enlightened” oligarchy; and a bunch of brave people, coming from different cultural and ideological backgrounds, but sharing the very same fate, who dare to face the power of the institutions through the weapon of pure aesthetic subversion.The reduction to the definition of “conceptual album” to describe a piece that, like this one, is actually a real saga - with all its problematic subplots - finds its explanation on the focus made upon the story’s maincharacters, the action and, last but not least, the ultimate protagonist of this fresco: the “eternal” Italy, its landscapes and its art, two monumental elements in the middle of a desolate emptiness which leads to a variety of metaphysical artistic references. As always, the score & the mood of this imposing operation bring to mind epic sounds with strong martial connotations, but, at the same time, they"re never afraid to stand comparison with the tradition of arcane Italian Melodrama. The main innovation on this album is represented by the display of a brand new fantasy dimension, with its subsequent gloomy and psychedelic effects which have entered, for the first time, into IANVA"s musical universe.By listening to “La Mano di Gloria” we can easily imagine what would have happened if there was a deeper inclusion of lysergic elements in the Golden Age of Italian mainstream, and in the field of folk which is now being played in its pure form, more than in the past, and displays those features of romance and adventure, so defining in good old popular fiction. “La Mano di Gloria” ’s 73 minutes leave breathless, thanks to the distinctive soundtrack penchant IANVA is inclined and known for. Dinamo Innesco Rivoluzione helps closing the "aesthetical" loop with its refined artwork.The final effect created by the artist, is both disturbing and dystopic. It “technologically” evokes XX century phantoms and let them lead the dance off to a near apocalypse that IANVA considers as the sole and painful solution to the present time, in which “living has become impossible”.Released mid-June, 2012.