 | La Bibbia (1971)Genres: heavy progressive, hard rock, proto prog |
review by thomas
A concept album based on the Bible (the creation myth through to the flood myth). This is heavy progressive stuff, real heavy, like Black Sabbath crossed with Bodkin minus the keyboards. The first problem with this record is the total length; just over thirty minutes. The second problem is the totally unnecessary intro and epilogue making the actual length even lesser, now around twenty-five minutes. This is a shame and a disgrace, even more so since the album is rather good, though it’s somewhat repetitious in its themes. The album features a strong singer and a strong ensemble of guitar, bass and drums. The long “Il Guiudizio” also offers some more gentle moments besides the usual tight and heavy playing.
Anybody into heavy and noisy progressive rock should try this one.
 | Io Come Io (1972)Genres: heavy progressive, hard rock, proto prog |
review by thomas
RDM followed up ”La Bibbia” with another 29-minute album, this time a concept album based on the philosophy of Hegel. The style is quite similar to that on “La Bibbia”, heavy metal mixed with progressive tendencies in four long songs. It goes without saying that the album length is a disgrace.
Besides the loud and noisy heaviness the record also offers some acoustic moments complete with some flute playing. I find the over-toned and very dominating fuzz bass playing very good and interesting; others will perhaps find it annoying and over the edge. Like the “La Bibbia” album, “Io Come Io” also suffers from some repetitions in its themes but on the whole this is another good effort from RDM, well worth the investment if you like heavy (proto progressive) rock with good guitar and bass work together with some fine singing.
 | Contaminazione (1973)Genres: progressive rock, symphonic rock |
review by thomas
One of the finest examples of the marriage between progressive rock and classical music although in terms of orchestration, this album keeps a low profile. Rovescio has come a far way since “La Biblia” and “Io come Io”, in terms of musical development. They also added a keyboard player and the keyboards are also the dominating player on this album.
The heaviness from the past shows up now and then, especially on the second side but this record is firstly a classical sounding one. A concept album concerning Johann Sebastian Bach, they also play a few Bach themes, and with a major contribution from producer Luis Enriquez Bacalov whom, to my understanding, also produced New Trolls classical experiment “Concerto Grosso” from 1971.
It is worth pointing out that the music on “Contaminazione” isn’t of the “an orchestra meets a rock group” kind. RDM creates this piece of music without as much orchestration as you would expect and the music is very modern and symphonic yet very classical sounding. Orchestration are present though and done very well. Flutes and other woodwinds also pop up from time to time.
Top-notch playing, top-notch music and a cleaner sound, compared with the roughness of former albums, are significant for this record, a record that also came out in an English version.
