Celtica – ‘Live at Montelago’ (2018)
Rating: 8.8/10
Release: 19 January 2018
Label: Stringdependent Records
With a work with such quality that it seems more like a studio recording than a live concert, Celtica brings us their first live album, recorded in their 2017 concert at the Celtic festival of Montelago (Italy).
For this occasion, the band brings us mostly songs from the album: “Steamphonia” with the help of the orchestra “Compagnia della Piuma” to add choirs and a wonderful classic instrumentation rich in sounds and nuances as a complement to its folkloric and cheerful sound, -Celtic symphonic if I’m allowed to say.
Through the 2 discs, emotions are generated thanks mostly to the wonderful choirs; music, in general, that transports you to the past and makes you forget that it is a live performance, and then bringing us back with some guitar riffs that accompany without hiding other instruments, making each piece a set of captivating melodies and sounds. Maybe seeing it as a live performance, it’s a little bit more necessary to listen more constantly to the audience’s mood or some interventions by the band to encourage the audience. For that, you should wait until the end of some songs for the audience to remind you that is a live concert.
The quality of the performance is spectacular and the great sound of the bagpipes shows all the quality of the Celtica musicians and gives us a unique sound. The adaptation of “Carmina Celtica” is my favorite of the 2 albums, but all the others are very good tracks, so it becomes difficult to choose one over the others. I hope that other folk bands take similar paths to adapt their music to other genres as well as Celtica does and with the same quality to be able to continue listening to great releases like “Live at Montelago”.
Tracklist Disc 1
- Steamphonia
- Demon of Carbonium
- A Sinister Romance
- Excalibur
- Harbour in the Sky
- Antarctica
- Beyond Avalon
- White Whale
- Nautilus Descending
- The Iron Angel
- Megawatt
- Full Steam Ahead
Tracklist Disc 2
- Whiskey in the Jar
- Visitors I+II
- Jane’s Solo
- The Druid´s Prophecy
- The Last Voyage of the Great Michael
- Victoria`s Desire
- Carmina Celtica
- Telegram for Monsieur Verne
- Deus Ex Machina
- Gateway to Utopia
- Amazing Grace