Artist

METAMORFOSI

1972
Davide "Jimmy" Spitaleri (vocals, flute)
Enrico Olivieri (keyboards, vocals, flute)
Luciano Tamburro (guitar)
Roberto Turbitosi (bass, vocals)
Mario Natali (drums, percussion)

1973
Natali and Tamburro replaced by:
Gianluca Herygers (drums, percussion)

A band based in Rome, though their singer Jimmy Spitaleri was from Sicily, Metamorfosi have released with Inferno another of those album that any Italian prog fan should have.
The group was formed in 1969 when Spitaleri joined the musicians of I Frammenti, a group specialized in the "beat mass" typical of those years.

Their first album,  ...e fu il sesto giorno, contains seven songs, the main elements of the band's music are already there, with the almost operatic voice of Jimmy Spitaleri in great evidence and the nice classical influenced playing of keyboards player Enrico Olivieri on a strong rhythm section, but the album is still fragmented and not particularly imaginative, and some 60's influences can still be heard.

Second album, Inferno, is their masterpiece, with two long suites (there are 16 titles on the cover but these are only the small pieces forming the Inferno suite) and the majestic voice of Spitaleri perfectly mixed with Olivieri's keyboards to form a highly original and exciting result. Tracks like Caronte are among the best of the Italian prog!

A third album, that was to be called Paradiso as a prosecution to the previous one, was written but never recorded and released and the band split.
Singer Spitaleri went to the USA and later, coming back to Italy, released two solo albums in 1979 and 1980, the first under the name of Thor, the second with his real name Davide Spitaleri.

The band made some reunion concerts in the 90's around the leading duo of Spitaleri and Olivieri, and the long waited Paradiso emerges again around 2000. 
The CD has finally been released in the summer of 2004, a vibrant album that takes again where Inferno had ended, the sound is not so different though a bit less dark than before. The group now consists of Jimmy Spitaleri, Enrico Olivieri and a very solid rhythm section of newcomers Leonardo Gallucci (bass and classical guitar) and Fabio Moresco (drums).
The band has presented the new CD with a very good concert in Rome in June, and is ready to go to the USA to play the NearFest in Philadelphia in July.

Two great rarities, the Metamorfosi albums both have gatefold covers and are on the black/silver Vedette label.
They probably had a limited distribution at the time, as the label was not particularly interested in rock groups. Around 10,000 copies were sold of Inferno, much less for ...e fu il sesto giorno.

They have a strange numbering, as ...e fu il sesto giorno has catalogue number VPA 8168 and year 1972 on the label (matrix carries date 29 May, 1972), while Inferno has number VPA 8162, year 1973 on label and the stamped date 30 January, 1973. While without doubt this is a later album, it was probably assigned an unused lower number in Vedette catalogue.

A counterfeit exists of Inferno that was very common in Italy until four-five years ago, probably all the copies have been now sold as originals!! This reissue is very well made and can give some experts a few doubts, but can be easily identified by the usual elements (see the Vedette and Trident label pages for details, and look for machine stamped matrix numbers and date on vinyl!). The cover has slightly out-of-focus images and writings, otherwise is almost identical.

In 2005 BTF/Vinyl Magic has released an official vinyl reissue of Inferno with the same gatefold cover as the original but different catalogue number (though not present on the label).
Even ...e fu il sesto giorno was reissued on vinyl by the same label in 2007.

No foreign vinyl issues exist. A recent mini-LP thick gatefold cover CD version of Inferno has been issued by the Korean M2U label, it has no. M2U 1017.

No official singles were released at the time, but at least three promos exist, all of them being very rare.

...e fu il sesto giorno - LP
Inferno - gatefold cover
Inferno - views of the original label
Inferno - bootleg LP label, on smooth paper with raised edge	Inferno - BTF reissue label, with smooth paper and no catalogue number
Inno di gloria - promo 7" single	Spacciatore di droga - promo 7" single
Violenti - promo 7" single
Paradiso - CD cover

Click on pictures to enlarge

Live in Rome, Foro Italico 10-jun-2004

You only need to listen to the first 2 minutes of Introduzione to understand the masterpiece that follows. Based on Dante's "Divine Comedy" this concept album both musically and lyrically describe the dreaded journey to hell and the inferno itself.
From the beginning of the album we are treated with a superb opus of moogs, hammonds and piano. Spitaleri's operatic voice helps accentuate the atmosphere and the majestic music. The compositions range from dark, obscure songs like Selva Oscura (after the first 2 min. intro) to majestic, energetic compositions like Caronte, Spacciatore di Droga and Malebolge. The rest of the songs are not as energetic but range from mellow to progressive outtakes. The energetic songs are particularly the most powerful of the whole genre albeit the lack of a fuzzed guitar. Composition wise the songs are very well crafted. In Caronte and Malebolge the minor scales are exploited with such ease that there is no need to shift between scales like other fellow Italians do.
A very listenable album unlike Il Balletto di Bronzo's Ys or Semiramis, Metamorfosi displays a more dynamic effort than their debut album. Inferno has the cleanest and purest sounds from a moog and hammond I have ever heard. Somehow similar to Corte dei Miracoli in the sound department (lack of guitar work) but incredibly original in compositions and ideas. This another album you must listen to first, Metamorfosi's brand of music is indeed extraordinary.
  Juan Carlos Lopez

A website dedicated to Metamorfosi is at http://www.metamorfosi.org/

Thanks to Juan Carlos Lopez and Massimo Santoni for some of the scans in this page