'Into The Storm' certainly has some great moments and fine songs.
The second album from Italian blues rock maestro Tommy Fiammenghi and his band is clearly an improvement on his debut, 'Songs From A Year'. Six years on, 'Into The Storm' documents a young European blues artist experimenting and improving, while the title suggests trouble ahead.
Certainly no slouch on his trusty six string, Fiammenghi's guitar lines are both rich and inventive, but played through a shabby attack that at times sounds like Wilko Johnson's famous assaulting of his strings. Some impressive solos wriggle out from his fret board, set free by his superb band. His voice, rough and ragged, is a great accompaniment to his choppy play.
With the addition of keys, the mixture of electric organ and wild synths adds a soulful layer or a wild space rock vibe to the heavy blues. A super-tight rhythm section keeps the boogie in check, and their understanding is immediately clear on the stop-start opener 'Goodbye'. 'Somebody's Bitch' and 'I Can't Believe It's True' snake through blues riffs and crashing hard rock power before 'White Snow' brings things down to a more sombre level.
Although clearly talented, Fiammenghi will not give the current big guns a serious run for their money any time soon. Fiammenghi's writing could be a little more adventurous and his lyrics are far from poetic. Whether some of them have been lost in translation it's impossible to say, but they are sometimes found to be bordering on ridiculous.
'Into The Storm' certainly has some great moments and fine songs. But the lack of much variation and the sometimes off-putting pointed lyrics makes repeated listens seem like more work than it should be.
After the storm passes, Tommy Fiammenghi could still yet prove to be a European blues powerhouse...
Dan Bond
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