Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

There could not be a better time and occasion for Banco del Mutuo Soccorso to celebrate their 50th anniversary while simoultaneously releasing their possibly most ambitious concept album since the release of their debut album "Darwin" in 1972. The new album is called "Orlando: Le Forme dell'Amore". Vittorio Nocenzi was working on this new album's musical concept for years together with his son Michaelangelo and lyricist Paolo Lugli. Narrating a real XIV century poem through different songs and possibly describing the facts and the ideals was a mountain to climb. The result of the immense work in the studio is fully represented in an epic album that will set new parameters for progressive rock fans. Undoubtely Banco has always been strongly related to their roots, but "Orlando: Le Forme dell'Amore" is a definitive proof of how traditional prog rock can evolve in a modern new blend of sound and spirit. The choice of singing the tracks on this album only in Italian (as before on Transiberiana) confirms the band's will to stay loyal to what they've been doing from the very beginning. In order to help the fans understand and follow the lyrics better on a track by track basis, English translations of the lyrics will be included in the artwork, along with the original Italian lyrics. In addition to that the band will post a detailed explanation of the whole concept and the album's narration on their website. The year 2022 marks Banco's 50th anniversay in terms of album releases as their first two albums were actually issued both in 1972. For the cover of the new album Banco are using the iconic 'Salvadanaio' (Italian for "piggy bank"), that became the band's unique logo and brand. "Orlando: Le Forme dell'Amore" is set to be released on September 23rd 2022 via InsideOutMusic. An intensive live tour will follow with concerts in Italy as well as in the rest of Europe and all across the world in 2023. Band History The history of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso begins in1970 as the two brothers Vittorio & Gianni Nocenzi were inspired and facinated by the exploding progressive rock scene at the time. In 1971 the band participated in the Caracalla Pop Festival in Rome. Music-wise the band moved rapidly from beat to intense prog rock themes to the classical music, based on the Nocenzi brothers interest in classical music. The lyrics were composed by Vittorio himself together with vocalist Francesco Di Giacomo, who actually joined Banco in the month of June of that year. Banco's self titled debut album was released one year later in 1972 featuring songs like "RIP", "Il giardino del mago" and "Metamorfosi", some of the most immortal and iconic songs of the band. In particular "Metamorfosi", an instrumental track except for a short section sung at the very end of the song by Francesco Di Giacomo, was immediately recognized and considered a manifesto of the Italian progressive rock scene. Later that same year Banco del Mutuo Soccorso released their sophomore effort, their first concept album titled Darwin. The whole project was indeed conceived and written around Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Banco's first two albums together with 1973's Io sono nato libero, their third release, are considered the most creative and influential albums of that golden era generation of progressive rock that originated in Italy but also was then spread out into the world. The sound of Io sono nato libero was a blend of UK progressive rock, mediterranean sounds and Italian melodrama with virtuoso instrumental parts and a unique singing style. Come in un'ultima cena, their fourth effort was relesed in 1976, followed by a European tour opening for UK's prog masters Gentle Giant. An English translated version of this album was also released, As in a last supper, thanks to the english translation by Italian well known artist Angelo Branduardi. A new album release followed later in 1976, which was a soundtrack for a movie inspired by Elio Vittorini's novel Garofano Rosso, who's director was Luigi Faccini. Di Terra was released by the Dischi Ricordi label in 1978, Canto di primavera followed in 1979, while Urgentissimo, released in 1980 marked their debut with CBS, a Sony Music label. Buone notizie was issued in 1981 and a couple of years later in 1983 another self tiled album was released, including the track "Moby Dick", which became one of Banco's most popular songs ever, even if the sound of that one album saw them drift apart from their prog rock background. E via was then released in 1985, an album that ideally closed Banco's first era, considering that it took almost 10 years before the band struck back with 13, their 13th studio album released in 1994. The band celebrated their 20 years' anniversary by touring the world, visiting countries such as Japan, United States, Mexico, Brasil & Panama. A live album titled Nudo was released in 1997, actually recorded in two different performaces in Japan. A new live album No palco was indeed released to celebrate their 30th anniversary featuring many special guests performing on stage with the band. Then came a tragic date to remember for the band. On February 21st 2014 Banco's vocalist Francesco Di Giacomo died in a car accident. This tragic death was announced during a TV broadcast show of the Sanremo Festival. Banco's leader Vittorio Nocenzi immediately interrupted all activies in respect of his old mate Francesco. A live album including 50 minutes of unreleased material was issued later that year, Un'idea che non puoi fermare. In 2017 Vittorio Nocenzi decided to turn the page and start a new era for Banco del Mutuo Soccorso around a new band line-up, consisting of guitarist Filippo Marcheggiani, who has been a member of the band for almost 20 years now, second guitarist Nicola Di Già (a former producer for Balletto di Bronzo), bass player Marco Capozi, ex-Metamorfosi drummer Fabio Moresco and a new vocalist, Tony D'Alessio, who reached a great popularity through the best performe at the 2013 talent tv show X Factor. The new line-up plays their first live shows and records in studio together, which leads to a recording deal with INSIDE OUT, a german based label distributed by Sony Music. The first album under the new line-up is released in May 2019, titled Transiberiana, a new concept album. Way before Transiberiana was released, Vittorio Nocenzi began working on a very ambituous musical project: conceiving and writing a concept album freely inspided by Ludovico Ariostoìs Orlando Furioso, a XIV century Italian poem universally known. A comnplicated but stimulating task that took years to complete. Finally in September 2022 this prog rock opera will be released under the title of Orlando: Le forme dell'amore. (The shapes of love).