Band:	Simone Fiorletta
Album:	My Secret Diary
Style:	Neoclassical rock, Progressive rock
Release date:	July 20, 2007
A review by:	Baz Anderson

01. A Day In California
02. I Came Back
03. To Fly Over The Rainbow
04. Welcome, Anita!
05. Only Three Minutes To Dream
06. Borderline
07. You Are My Past, Present, Future
08. Brawl In A Saloon
09. The Beginning Of A New Era
10. Good Bye

The first time my mind boggled at music so exquisite and impressive in the way that what I was hearing was so masterly performed and accomplished was when I first heard Yngwie Malmsteen's "Rising Force", but to my surprise a few days ago when I laid down to relax and listen to this CD it happened again. Maybe it was my current mental state of relaxation or my wrongfully mediocre expectations, but whatever it was made this album have a huge affect on me.

Simone Fiorletta is an Italian guitarist also of the band Moonlight Comedy, but here with this solo album this is a fully instrumental album. The main focus here are of course the guitar of the Italian wizard and the keyboards that are constantly backing up and intertwining with the guitar. The music here I must say is not very metal at all but do not let that put you off at all, this is elegant and beautiful, neoclassical, progressive rock.

The first track, like all tracks on the album is technically brilliant but because it is the first song it feels somewhat like a warm up, something to get your ears adjusted to because they will need adjusting to listen to this music and appreciate it fully. Onto the second track though "I Came Back" and as the guitar and keyboards twist and turn and take you through a real adventure you really begin to get an idea of how ingenious album this is. The guitar, the keyboards, they are so uplifting; they really do take you to some kind of higher place. Forget about the lack of vocals, the guitar does all the singing and really communicates emotions quite like nothing I have heard before, "Welcome, Anita!" is a perfect example of this. I feel like I understand some of the songs more here than songs from bands that have lyrics and have a singer, the track names set the scene and the guitar and the melody takes you away and paints the picture for you.

Each track has multiple layers, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, drums and it is mixed perfectly. This album is probably quite a good example of how music in general in the world of rock and metal as well has evolved. Musicians are more talented to an unfathomable level and can write the material to suit their skills as well. On a few places on this album I can hear some elements of the guitar work of Mike Oldfield material from the eighties and early nineties and it makes me wonder if Mike Oldfield was born into this generation, he would probably, in his own style, be doing something more like this. This album is modern and fresh and perfect for the people of this generation that love intricate, progressive music.

If your personal taste doesn't branch even a little bit outside of real, hard, heavy metal then this album will not suit you. Also if you don't like complicated music that demands your attention to fully appreciate its majesty, then this probably will not suit you either. But if you like to branch out a little and experiment with your music, if you appreciate multiple complicated layers of music and music that can speak to you and almost manipulate your feelings, if you like to lay down and enjoy some good, classy music then this album is most certainly for you.