This Italian band mixes a perfect amount of atmosphere with their take on Doom Metal here. Christia's vocals offer nuance and power. The opening track highlights this with its ebb and flow of dynamics, which works off the 90s loud-to-soft formula. The second song "Garden of Evil" is driven by a shadowy force that holds a great deal of common ground with a band like Messa. However, this band is not as prone to jamming or the blues. Instead, I am counting hints of grunge influencing them.
"Malevolent" has more of a metallic drive than the more meandering melancholy of "Back to the Nest", it also feels like the first song that is overtly metal, even with is jammed excursions in tasteful guitar stylings that get a little more proggy, unless you are using the new Opeth album as the bar for prog. There are some interesting progressions that the riffs wind around into, that create a grooving tension. The vocals are really strong for "Potsherds" as they glide over the more aggressive stomp of the riff. I like the vocals are not an afterthought feel like they are an integral part of the songwriting. The drumming is pretty impressive in this song as well.
"Fall of the Seven Veils" is more of an interlude so not going to count it for the purpose of this review. The title track carries a more deliberately doomy stomp. It also has the first riff that really feels Sabbathy to me, which is impressive to be able to say that about a doom band when you are seven songs into their album. The vocals also do not play into any of the Ozzy tropes., so the similarities are passing, as the melodic soloing is not as blues-based as what Iommi might do. The most mammoth sludgey moment is what closes out the album as "Waratah Blossom" stomps to life.Overall a great balance of the kind of heavy you want from this genre, without conforming and bringing their own sense of ambiance to things. I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me.
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