I started listening to this album with great interest. The purpose: a load of italian underground musicians join their forces in this project in order to show what collective spirit does for people.
The result: ten different – in every single meaning of the word – tracks.
The catch: not all of the ten parts that L’inverno della civetta includes contain vocals. In fact, the clean melodies have the edge.

The comparisons: While Amaro and Territori del Nord Ovest remind a bit contemporary post-avantgarde progressive metal (wow, what a tag, huh!), the next Morgengruss is nothing more than a languid and sullen emotion, expressed through guitars and sometimes electronics.
The strong opening of Bantoriak grows into a constant progressive riff with no begining and no end, so the trance is guaranteed. After about two minutes the things are getting pretty stirred up, but only so that the track can end in peaceful silence.
Messaterra is a pleasentry with some folklore instruments that brings back the fun in the effort. Also, behind the entertaining name Chewbacca on Surf hides a light punk-like melody with clean female vocals.

Numero 7, the delicate guitars and the text are a country wink, followеd by the ten-minute-long epopee Estonia. Its dark message is sent throughout the whole composition, somehow sad and overstrung.
The second to last Crisaore combines again punk and female singing in equal parts.
The final melody, The Shivering Tree, truly gives me shivers. It closes the album in a classical way and surely will stay in my mind for a while. Or for more.

7/10

The groups, involved in L’Inverno della civetta (The Owl’s WInter), are Isaak, Meganoidi, Numero 6, Od Fulmine, Kramers, Bosio, Eremite, Mope, Vanessa Van Basten, Gli Altri, The Washing Machine, Giei, Madame Blague, Demetra Sine Die, Lilium and Merckx.