Altera Nexa - No Borders (2023)

For this first work, recorded at patavino Studio 2 by Cristopher Bacco with a hybrid recording technique, Niero and Dalla Gasperina draw their inspiration from experimental rock (Radiohead, King Crimson, Steven Wilson) hybridized with influences from Jazz/Fusion (Snarky Puppy, Weather Report, Area). In fact, alongside the classic rock band composed of drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals, there is a large wind section consisting of baritone, tenor, alto saxophones, and trumpet.
The album opens with the powerful instrumental track, Skeletons, with an insistent rhythm that immediately immerses the listener into the band's world of sound, characterised by powerful drums and horns. With River and Give Yourself, the atmospheres become respectively more pop and funky, highlighting the band's musicians' skills and their varied influences, enriched by the catchy vocal lines of the two leaders, who alternate and merge together. With Plug me in, the sound expands into a psychedelic dimension, while with Goodbye, we are captured by a continuous vortex of rare elegance.
The 9.45-minute track, The Message That I Didn't Send, sounds like a true manifesto of what ALTERA NEXA with their 9 members are capable of, where technical expertise and compositional skills marry perfectly for a truly surprising result. Nanomachines is perhaps the most distinctly jazz/fusion track on the album, while with Window, the song that closes this incredible first work of the Paduan band, we immerse ourselves in an atmospheric, dense, and melancholic suite that closes a well-executed work composed of complex sounds and refined arrangements, making No Borders a truly intense and engaging listening experience.