DGM

Italy's DGM originated in 1994 as an instrumental power metal group featuring guitarist Diego Reali, keyboardist Maurizio Pariotti, bassist Marco Marchiori, and drummer Gianfranco Tassella. After placing second in a regional battle of the bands competition, the quartet pursued a singer and recruited veteran Luciano Regoli, whose background included multiple progressive rock projects from the 1970s, before issuing the Random Access Zone EP in 1996. Their first album, Change Direction, arrived the following year and marked an increasing shift toward progressive metal; the 1999 follow-up Wings of Time, which introduced drummer Fabio Constantino, earned frequent top rankings in magazine polls and moved more than 4,000 units in Japan. Despite growing praise for a sound that blended Dream Theater and Symphony X influences, repeated lineup adjustments preceded the 2001 release Dreamland, now fronted by vocalist Titta Tani. Although commercial results fell short of the prior record, the album still enabled DGM to sign with the emerging Italian imprint Scarlet Records, leading to the 2003 effort Hidden Place and the addition of keyboardist Fabio Sanges. Giuseppe Orlando produced the subsequent Misplaced in 2004, after which further personnel shifts preceded Different Shapes in 2007. Mark Basile joined as vocalist soon afterward and appeared on his first studio recording with the band, 2009's Frame. Following a four-year recording hiatus, DGM issued Momentum, Basile's second album with the group, and returned again in 2016 with the ambitious ninth LP The Passage, which included guest contributions from Evergrey vocalist Tom Englund and Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo.