EDERA - AND MOUTH DISAPPEARS - 2005

Edera is an Italian neoprog band that has been around for over a decade. And Mouth Disappears is the band's second full-length release, which is a concept album to boot. Centered around themes of (mis)communication and alienation, and taking a page or two from Marillion's Misplaced Childhood, Edera may not offer anything new, but they adhere to the formula well nonetheless.

And Mouth Disappears is structured in a similar manner to Arena's Contagion in that there are 19 short songs that comprise one 50-minute composition. As such, each song ebbs and flows into the next and with no particular track as a standout, one really needs to devote the better part of an hour to appreciate the songs on offer.

Like other neoprog bands such as Marillion, IQ, Pendragon and Arena, Edera have a vocalist that takes some getting used to. Valerio Valentini's highly dramatic Italian accented vocals may turn one off at first, but given time they become fairly agreeable. What I find to be particularly unique about him is that his voice resembles Robert Smith of The Cure and not Fish or Peter Gabriel. His trembling, wavering performance is in many ways the star of the show here. Underneath Valentini's voice, the heavy crunch of twin lead guitarists Andrea Ungaro and Ryan Costana lend a near heavy metal feel to some of the arrangements, but keyboardist Matteo Ungaro keeps things in check with his tasteful symphonic embellishments.

Overall, Edera do a good job of mining familiar territory. It's too bad the band didn't include a few more instrumental passages to break up the copious lyrics but I recommend And Mouth Disappears to anyone who can't get enough of the genre.
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