An Italian rock group which tops off their modern progressive rock with vocals in Latin, Deus Ex Machina got an ambitious start in the late '80s. The band penned a rock opera which, when performed in 1990, received good reviews but proved too costly to run for very long. The Milan-based Kaliphonia label agreed to record and release the opera, and the band recorded Gladium Caeli in two days. Deus Ex Machina followed this with a cleaner sounding self-titled effort, and in 1995 they released De Republica, based on philosophical/political writings of the singer (Alberto Piras). The band has a well-crafted metal/progressive sound (crunching guitars, synth runs, busy drums) with acoustics playing an equal part in their music. The operatic singer is not far from the styles of Queensryche's Geoff Tate and Area's Demetrio Stratos. A live album in 1996 and 1998's Equilibrismo Da Insofferenza are evidence of the band's longevity, and Deus Ex Machina continues to tour internationally. ~ Patrick Little, Rovi