VIII Strada is a Milanese prog band consisting of Tito Vizzuso on vocals, Davide Zigliani on guitar, Silvano Negrinelli on keyboards, Sergio Merlino on bass, and Riccardo Preda on drums. After their 2008 debut with the excellent "La leggenda della grande porta," they return with an album that delivers on its promise.

"Babylon" is a mature concept album that describes the story of a man and a woman, using the title's metaphor as an emblem of misunderstanding and incommunicability. But while the lyrics are often enigmatic and not always immediately comprehensible, the music is clearly influenced by an extremely authentic and sincere prog sound.

It's not at all easy to navigate the myriad of prog, neoprog, and prog-metal albums released every year; In most cases, we're faced with works of great mediocrity, primarily due to the almost total lack of new ideas – and this is an old argument that refers to all the unoriginal "epigones" of a specific genre. Secondly, because – while it's objectively difficult to open new paths within a genre that's now preparing to celebrate its fiftieth birthday – prog requires considerable technique and study,