Drumster Pat Mastelotto needs very little introduction, as he has a storied career with KC to bank on in terms of credibility while Lorenzo is an accomplished bass guitarist, composer and producer who can master a wide variety of other instruments as well. I discovered this Roman maestro in 2018 when he put out an album with fellow bass man Colin Edwin (he of Porcupine Tree fame) and was immediately impressed by his impeccable mastery of all varieties of bass implements ( horizontal, vertical , fretted and otherwise). Portal was originally released in 2020, as an experimental prog rock, with nu-jazz overtones that is getting a refurbishing in 2026.
Huge soundscapes are on the menu here right from the start, the 8-minute ranged “Moto” and the two-part “Not Responding” suite, together clocking in 9 minutes and some, both clearly statements of visceral intent. Whether one is stimulated by challenging and technical bravado, or like me, just a bass guitar junkie, the satisfaction will be immediately tangible within a few clocks on the dial, as these two waste little time in pulverizing any possible boundaries or even references. The first kicks you right in the chops with a burly bass and tectonic drum progression that is both basic and addictive as inhumanly possible. It dangles, seduces, scratches and bruises like a jungle infested with scary monsters, the distant sonic effects to remind one that even in solitude, you are never alone. Lorenzo bends his wobbly strings like the legendary Mick Karn, a sizzling elasticity emanating from each pass, like a serpent’s tongue searching for a victim. The other bi-sectional piece is only slightly more sedate, giving guest keyboardist Alessandro Gwis to insert his synths and piano into the mix, providing some semblance of melodic accessibility within a pool of variable dissonance and ambient themes, the entire feel like being lost in space , perhaps even marooned on some desolate asteroid, hurtling towards any collision it may wish to encounter.
Four shorter tracks comprise the next instalment and can be easily appreciated as a close series of outcomes . Proprietorship of a soundtrack-like score for some obscure sci-fi spy thriller ,“HDP” teaches the lessons of sonic experimentation on a primeval level, in that the rhythmic engine is literally the core , the bass guitar completely upfront and center, where it damn well should be at this level of competence. An experienced percussor like Pat easily understands how is polyrhythmic is crucial to filling the voids in between the bass notes and how thrust and splash can alter perceptions. This reflects (excuse the pun) on “Mirror” , a creative platform for adventurous interpretations of sober light and shadow. On the other hand, the only slightly bucolic “Harvest” creates a reaping trough of oblique strategies and confounding sounds, that will even include a forlorn cello . With a title like “Drumsalona”, you might expect just a drum solo, but these two like to keep the upper lip perspiring with a long electronic intervention that acts like anesthesia, as Doctor Mastelotto pares away all kinds of malignant growths with his two wooden scalpels.
Three worldclass epics finish the deal, all more or less in the 8-minute range and the tendency here is even more progressive than before, with all kinds of swampy electronics swirling beyond the circuitous bass lines and the throttling rhythmic crevasses, even daring to knock on the Bible Black’s Red door. Pat even does a delicious Brufordian pass (simplicity incarnate) towards the effect laden finale and its borderline genius. This is what you get with the spooky and intoxicating “Logorhythmic”, an exercise in angst, trepidation and perhaps even fear ! Lorenzo then lets his nimble fingers do the dancing as a wave goodbye.
Maintain the pulsating chaos as well as the mellotrons, “Homemade Prison” internalized between four walls the true meaning of progressive music, even in the quietest moments (no, not the Supertramp tune) there is underlying tension that is barley skin deep. The Fripp influence comes with the recurring guitar chords careening, echoing and colliding within the collapsing space, mesmerizing and playing with fate. The lizard-tongued bass sheds its aspic coating only barely, the intensity reaching an almost unbearable paroxysm of pain. A haunting track that even after multiple visits just keeps on creating intense images, until only silence can ever hope to solve the mystery.
Change of pace? What the hell for? “The Return” doesn’t go anywhere else, just maintains the foot on the pedal, adding even more tectonic reverberations, mellotron squalls and pummelling thumps to the doom and gloom of it all. Lorenzo pushes hard, Pat hitting even harder, especially when the tortuous experimentation becomes angered and painful. The arrangement never sits still, unable to drone and constantly surging ahead. Or maybe also backwards as well.
I guess the real quality of any treasure lies in the notion of how hard it was to discover in the first place. This was no Easy Money ! A masterpiece of intelligent, physically expansive modern prog. Oh, I forgot, and a bass fetishist’s delight!
4.5 Wireless entrances