Released on January 12th through Rockshots Records, and available now through all platforms, this is a review for the debut album for Italy’s Last in Time.
Last In Time are:
Massimo Marchetti: Guitars and Choirs (All)
Igor Piattesi: Vox and Choirs (1,2,4,6,7,8,9)
Caterina Minguzzi: Vox and Choirs (1,2,4,5)
Mirko Marchetti: Vox and Choirs (Song Nr. 9)
Luca Nicolasi: Bass Guitar (All)
Giacomo Calabria: Drums (All)
Alessio Mosconi: Keyboards (1,2,4,5)
Emanuele Lo Verde: Keyboards (6,7,9)
Andrea Lo Verde: Keyboards (8)
Special guest, Samuele Benini: Piano solo (5)
Guitarist Massimo Marchetti comments on the debut:
“Finally, the long-awaited moment has arrived! We couldn’t be happier to present our first album “Too Late” to the whole world, in collaboration with Rockshots Records, of which we are truly proud to be a part. From the very first listen, it’s clear that we, as a band want to present ourselves with a level of maturity and confidence in its sound. We will do everything possible to earn the respect of fans with this record and our future live performances.”
Last in Time is a project that was formed in 2021 as a studio band, intending to record original songs in the melodic and classic rock/AOR genre. Leading the project is Massimo Marchetti, the songwriter, producer, and arranger of the group’s songs. The project has a diverse lineup (listed above), as it was managed as an All-star band, to ensure that each song had the right artistic touch. The ability to have multiple voices, including a female voice, greatly expanded the compositional range of the songs, allowing for a range of genres and nuances.
However, the group’s sound, while diverse, remains anchored to a common thread, which is a passion for classic rock in its various forms. The presence of experienced and motivated musicians made the album recording process a wonderful journey, which will continue with live sessions and the start of a true project focused on recording more albums in the future.
From the start, I loved the album cover, it took me back to the days of vinyl when you would look at these album covers as pieces of art. This one is great, drew me in and made me interested in the music I was going to hear! We sometimes lose that when we only stream a song or two, the album art projects something. In this case it took me more toward magic, time-travel, prog rock and story. But that was before I heard the music!
Now to the review. The album runs with 9 songs at 45 minutes.
1. “The Way To Rock” A decent rocker opens up the album, some good back melody singing and a strong commercial chorus. Not the most imaginatively titled song, but it immediately took me into the AOR sound of the late eighties. It is a fist pumping big live sound number that puts a marker down. A solid rocker.
2. “How Long?” Has a great introduction, building up with some cool guitar sounds and the keyboard works well here too. Again, there is a strong melody, the musical bridges work and the whole piece is structured to ebb and flow through the guitar riffs. I’m sure it would sound great live and have them jumping in the pit.
3. “Road To Redemption” This is a short instrumental with some Spanish guitar work that leads directly into “Believer in Love.” When I heard this I actually thought it was all one song and got caught out reviewing the next track!
4. “Believer In Love” This one follows seamlessly from the last track, it moves more into prog rock territory, some strong dual vocals, I liked this one a lot. Lyrically interesting too, it is really worth a listen and this hit the mark for me, it went on my playlist and I would have had this as the single.
5. “Moonlight Dreamers” has a bit of built in funk, it is lighter and more in the groove. It is the first track that drew me into the drum sound, and I liked the vocals here. It is another strong track, and I find myself liking the album – it has started to have a distinctive feeling. The first two tracks were decent rockers, but these last few tracks are defining the band as having more of a sound of their own.
6. “The Animal” as per the title is a bit darker. At 6.54 it is one of the longer tracks on the album. It moves the sound toward early Whitesnake. It’s one of the heavier tracks on the album and it was a solid enough album track.
7. “Too Late” builds a musical melody. It runs at 7.13 so it slips through some strong instrumental breaks and showcases the keyboards alongside those guitar led melodies. The vocals are down deeper a bit here and suits the vocal style better than on the previous track.
8. “Mr.Fantastic” it a strong riff based track taking us back into the rock arena. There is a strong keyboard presence under the track as well. It had plenty of energy, but possibly my least favourite on the album.
9. “Winter In May” closes the album with a fresh sound. They close on a ballad, plenty of atmosphere and a storytelling prog rock type of delivery. It’s interesting, but I would probably have placed it earlier in the album.
The Spotify link to listen to this is here
This is my first time hearing the band, and I knew nothing of them previously. It has a couple of really good moments, I absolutely must praise “Believer in Love” as tracks that showcases what these guys can do. A band worth supporting and getting behind, I suspect this album is an early indication of what is to come.
Standout Tracks: “Believer in Love,” and “Moonlight Dreamers”
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By Stevie Ritson
Album Credits:
– All songs and lyrics are written, arranged and produced by Massimo Marchetti
– Mixed by Mike Suzzi.
– Drums recorded at Pri Studio.
– Vocals and Guitars recorded by Massimo Marchetti with Exceptions of:
– Acoustic Guitars, recorded by Mike Suzzi;
– Vocals on “The Way”, “How Long” & “Believer”, recorded by Mike Suzzi;
– Vocals on “The Animal”, Mr. Fantastic”, recorded by Andrea Lo Verde @ALV STUDIO;
– Vocals on “Winter in May “, recorded by Michele Luppi.
– Mastered by Giovanni Versari – La Maestà Mastering
– Cover Artist: Aberto ZiminoLast In Time are:
Massimo Marchetti: Guitars and Choirs (All)
Igor Piattesi: Vox and Choirs (1,2,4,6,7,8,9)
Caterina Minguzzi: Vox and Choirs (1,2,4,5)
Mirko Marchetti: Vox and Choirs (Song Nr. 9)
Luca Nicolasi: Bass Guitar (All)
Giacomo Calabria: Drums (All)
Alessio Mosconi: Keyboards (1,2,4,5)
Emanuele Lo Verde: Keyboards (6,7,9)
Andrea Lo Verde: Keyboards (8)
Special guest, Samuele Benini: Piano solo (5)
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