A new, short but densely packed piece of music, all about premonitions, precursors, anticipations ... produced just days before some stupid assholes decided to make war in the Middle East.
FOREBODINGS
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
Photo: geophysical monitoring instruments on Etna, 2025
Inspired by @lallyb.bsky.social's book on the 1995-2010 Montserrat eruption, I created a powerful new piece of progressive rock
METAMORPHOSIS
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
That's me in the photo, in 2005 in Montserrat, wearing a T-shirt that says "The volcanoes are below (or among) us"
During the days of the heavy storm "Harry", which caused widespread devastation in eastern Sicily on 19-21 January 2026, I started working on a new piece of progressive rock, which is now ready, and is called
DAYS OF THE STORM
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
Photo by lascicilia.it
Oh, I have done that for more than a year now 😊
My first, brand-new music of 2026:
EXCUSES
as in: pretexts, justifications, alibis ... used for all sorts of despicable and horrible actions that we constantly hear of. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is not coincidental at all.
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
When I was 15 and dreaming of finding a girlfriend, I wrote a little song
Take A Walk With Me
Just to give you an idea of where my musical evolution started ... I was very much into The Beatles (still am, though) and had yet to discover Prog.
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
A new communiqué will be issued shortly 😊
Just after midnight on 1 January 2026, a new eruption started from #Etna's eastern flank: a fissure opened at ~2100 m elevation, and a lava flow is descending through the desert-like Valle del Bove. Photos taken in the evening of 1 January from Etna's east and southeast flanks
Just in time before things got crazy at #Etna, I rapidly composed and recorded a brand-new song
AT THE END OF A YEAR
It's a shorter song than usual for me, and only slightly prog to be honest - but I admit that I am very satisfied with it.
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
obviously the year should be 2025 ... I guess I was slightly exhausted being volcanologist on-duty over these past few days and having to organize all the communication from our Operations Room to Civil Defense, authorities, and air traffic control 🤪
yesss ... I guess I was tired after handling this activity in the past few days in the role of volcanologist on-duty 🤪
A jet of incandescent lava fragments shoots from a vent that opened on the morning of 27 December 2025 on the upper eastern flank of the Voragine crater at the summit of Etna, on the evening of the 28th. This type of activity is known as "Strombolian", after the volcano Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily. The snow-covered peak at right is the Southeast Crater, which last erupted in August 2025. View from the town of Nicolosi, on the south flank of Etna.
The new vent that opened on the morning of 27 December 2027 on the upper east flank of the Voragine crater at the summit of #Etna, seen in Strombolian eruption on the evening of the 28th. This activity has been continuing over the past 24 hours without significant variations. Seen from south
Eruption column produced by the first paroxysmal eruptive episode at Etna's Northeast Crater, on the morning of 27 December 2025, recorded by a monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio in Bronte, on the western flank of the volcano.
Eruption column produced by the second paroxysmal eruptive episode at Etna's Northeast Crater, in the afternoon of 27 December 2025, recorded by a monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio at the Montagnola, high on the southern flank of the volcano.
Minor explosive activity from a vent on the east side of Etna's Voragine crater at sunset on 27 December 2025, recorded by a monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio at the Montagnola, high on the southern flank of the volcano.
Not one, but TWO paroxysmal eruptive episodes at #Etna 's Northeast Crater on 27 December 2025, AND minor activity at the Voragine crater. Though the Northeast Crater has frequently shown minor activity in recent decades, its last paroxysmal episode was on 27-28 March 1998.
Glow produced by Strombolian activity at Etna's Northeast Crater during the night of 25-26 December 2025, seen from Nicolosi, on the south flank of the volcano
Simultaneous Strombolian activity at the Bocca Nuova (at left) and Northeast Crater (background) at Etna's summit just before dawn on 26 December 2025, recorded by a monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio Etneo located on the Montagnola, an old crater high on the south flank of the volcano.
Heat anomaly at Etna's Northeast Crater during the forenoon of 26 December 2025, recorded by a thermal monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio Etneo located at Monte Cagliato on the east flank of the volcano.
Ash emission from the "BN-2" vent of the Bocca Nuova crater at Etna's summit at about noon on 26 December 2025, seen from Piano Vetore, on the upper southwestern flank of the volcano
Eruptive activity has increased since 24 December 2025 at two of #Etna 's four summit craters: the Northeast Crater and the Bocca Nuova. Strombolian explosions produce jets of incandescent material and minor ash emissions
www.ct.ingv.it/Dati/informa...
A scene of death and new life on Etna's flank cone Monti Rossi, in the spring of 2025. Trees were burned during a devastating wildfire in the summer of 2023, whereas in the foreground new life is sprouting and blossoming. The silhouette of Etna is seen in the background.
Here comes a new song from yours truly!
VITA INCOGNITA
"Vita incognita" describes an unexplored aspect of existence, a mysterious journey, or a new chapter of life full of discovery and potential challenges - pretty much how my life went in 2025.
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
Looking very much forward to seeing this monumental work published, hopefully very soon, and proud being part of this excellent team!
Etna's summit crater complex seen from southwest on the morning of 20 November 2025. The Southeast Crater is to the right, and on the left the main summit cone with the Bocca Nuova crater emitting ash, and, barely recognizable behind the ash plume, the Voragine crater. View from near the town of Biancavilla.
Ash emission from the eastern inner pit of the Bocca Nuova crater on the morning of 20 November 2025. The dark rounded hill behind the ash plume is the Voragine crater, which most recently erupted in June-August 2024. View from near the town of Biancavilla on the southwestern side of Etna.
A group of hikers, led by authorized volcanological guides, is approaching the southern base of the Bocca Nuova crater at the summit of Etna, seen here emitting brownish ash. The Voragine crater is seen to the left of the ash plume. View from near the town of Adrano, on the southwestern side of the mountain, at noon on 25 November 2025.
The main summit cone of Etna, with the Bocca Nuova and Voragine craters, and two groups of hikers approaching the Bocca Nuova. One group can be seen zigzagging uphill just below the rim at left, the second group is in lower left center, behind the dark lava flows of August 2025. View from near the town of Adrano, on the southwestern side of the mountain, at noon on 25 November 2025.
Signs of life from the Bocca Nuova crater at the summit of #Etna, 20 November 2025, with emissions of dark ash from the eastern inner pit of the crater. Similar emissions in the past have heralded periods of magmatic activity within that crater.
A little new song from myself, written in part in 1987 and in part in 2025:
GEMONA
dedicated to a little town in the northeastern Italian town that was devastated by an earthquake in 1976 and beautifully reconstructed
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
A new fine piece of progressive rock, composed by yours truly in part in 2020, and then again in 2025, which is about the sense of life and about ... cats.
That's What Life Is All About
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
A stressed-out version of myself after racing to enrollment at Bochum University on 19 September 1985, the day when I started becoming a volcanologist
Google Earth scene of the long, winding road (Universitätsstraße) leading to the University of Bochum
Driving up Bochum's Universitätsstraße in December 2019, during my fist visit to the city and the University since 1991
A musical voyage on the long road that is the past 40 years in my life
THE NEVER ENDING ROAD
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
A tune I composed after my first visit since 1991 to the city of Bochum, where I started studying geology in 1985, with the aim of becoming what I am now: a volcanologist
Dear Sam, yes it was.a bit longer, close to 4 km. The longest we've had among all recent documented (since 1986) PDCs at Etna.
Uhhhhh ... no. This has been assembled from various video (including some of my footage) but also some AI, and supposedly the spoken text is from an automatic voice (it sounds exactly like the voice in the Italian Google Maps navigator). No one is currently concerned about a major flank collapse 🤦♂️
Photo shows the view from the highest peak of Salina (and of all of the Aeolian Islands, 962 m), Monte Fossa delle Felci (Mountain of the Crater of Ferns) toward Monte dei Porri (Mountain of Leeks, 860 m) with the islands of Filicudi and Alicudi in the distance.
New music from Yours Truly !!!
SALINA
dedicated to the beautiful island in the Aeolian Islands, a melody that came to me almost thirty years ago, but remained unfinished until August 2025.
soundcloud.com/boris-behnck...
Photo taken in October 2005 ⬇️
Yes, but it's rather modest explosive activity for Etna standards
I forgot to add that you hear some wind and sporadic explosions from the nearby Southeast Crater, which is the main focus of this eruption ☺️
How does lava sound when it comes to the surface of the Earth? Listen to a lava flow oozing out of its effusive vent high on the southwestern side of #Etna, 28 August 2025. That day no visits by tourists were allowed on the site, which permitted this (relatively) clean recording
The Southeast Crater - youngest and most active of the four summit craters of #Etna - producing Strombolian explosions and a lava flow on the evening of 24 August 2025. The current summit eruption started on 14 August. Photo taken from Nicolosi on Etna's south flank.
ERROR CORRIGE: the lava flow goes to the SOUTHWEST (too much used writing about the Southeast Crater) ... 😔
In reality, the Northeast Crater is to the northeast of the Voragine crater, which lies immediately to the north of the Bocca Nuova 😀
