COSMICS – The Cosmic Year

The multi-faceted Daniele Liverani (Twinspirits, Genius, Khymera), accomplished guitarist and keyboardist, is back with a new project aptly named “Cosmics.” Liverani has managed to corral the up-and-coming guitar hero Tommy Ermolli (Twinspirits, Khymera), bassist Rufus Philpot (Planet X) and special guest drummer Virgil Donati (Steve Vai, Planet X, Ring Of Fire) to record a debut release entitled The Cosmic Year.

The Cosmic Year is an Instrumental, Progressive Metal concept album with the music being influenced by the evolution of the Universe from “Big Bang” (sorry Christians) to present day. The conceptual ideas are actually based on American astronomer Carl Sagan’s book The Dragons Of Eden. Liverani’s writing inspiration is drawn mainly from Sagan’s brief summary in this book, of the entire evolution of species starting from the “Big Bang” to the beginning of the human civilization with the help of a “Cosmic Calendar,” where every billion years of life corresponds to about twenty-four days of the calendar.

Without starting a Holy War … whether one agrees with Sagan’s concept or not shouldn’t preclude any Metal enthusiast from enjoying this “vocal-less” disc. The music contained within is progressive, dynamic, and epic throughout. With this line-up of musicians anything less would certainly be unexpected and a disappointment! While there is no new ground being broken here in the Instrumental Progressive Metal genre, this is not a deterrent as the music presented is highly entertaining and engaging. The band crams a lot of notes into a mere fifty-one minutes of music with the majority of tracks being highly energetic.

One of the exceptional nuances that binds all this instrumentation together is the vivid production by Liverani as all instruments are clearly discernible. This includes Liverani’s electrostatic keyboard tone, which is clearly at the front of the mix at times, but is restrained enough from becoming overbearing or offensive. Donati pounds the skins as hard as ever, and while this isn’t as much a “guitar album” versus a “keyboard album,” Ermolli get the opportunity to “say” plenty via his six strings.

Bottom line, if you’re a fan of keyboard-driven Progressive music as played by the likes of masters such as Vitalij Kuprij, then this release is a must buy! The Cosmic Year is definitely a high mark on Liverani’s “solo” career, which leaves him firmly planted in the upper echelon of keyboardist ranks — juxtapose to the likes of Kuprij, Derek Sherinian, and Jens Johansson!

Lineup:
Daniele Liverani – Keyboards
Tommy Ermolli – Guitars
Rufus Philpot – Bass
Virgil Donati – Drums

To find out more about Cosmics, visit their label’s Web site at www.LionMusic.com, or Daniele’s official Web site at www.DanieleLiverani.com.