Genre: Black Metal
Label: Paragon Records
Line Up:
The band publishes this album for the American label Paragon Records, managing to package a full-bodied album, over an hour in duration for only 5 songs, characterized by a marked underlying melancholy, as eloquently announced by the title.
The band, active since 2000, juggles with a Black Metal that draws inspiration from both the Finnish and Norwegian schools, the typical cold sound of the guitars that create melodic and sad riffs is the basis on which the compositions are born; the rhythm section is excellent, the drums in particular, albeit without overdoing it, do not limit themselves to playing typical scores, but also vary by accompanying the same riff, these small tricks contribute to increasing the quality of the songs. After the first short intro with an almost Punk attitude, rather different from what is proposed later, "Bare Emotions" opens in which the pristine Nordic Black Metal manifests itself in its entirety, followed by "La Notte Dei Morti", perhaps the song more characteristic and varied with its almost hypnotic main riff, some hints of palm muting and the central detachment of only drums and bass. The subsequent "Everlasting Flames" with the alternation of mid-tempo and blast beats, recalls Horna's mid-career albums, where the more cadenced parts break the linearity of the riffing into tremolo picking; "Under The Bright Cursed Star", very similar to the previous one.
Last song "Her Beauty In Those Days", in which we point out, once again, what the Fornace trademark is, without deviating much from what we heard throughout the album.
Good production, despite the guitars maintaining a raw sound relevant to the basic proposal, everything is well blended and, at the same time, each instrument finds its space without overpowering the others, just a little subdued the vocals, which with his stifled screaming he struggles to stand out from the rest.
Ultimately a nice work of classic and melancholy Black Metal to be savoured calmly, avoiding a fleeting listening that would not let you grasp the nuances present, a confirmation for a band in constant growth!
Andrea B.
