Review Summary: An overlooked gothic metal gem
When it comes to the more depressing side of metal, Southern Europe generally isn't the place you'd expect to find this kind of bleak style of music. However, countries like Italy are home to some of the best in the style, such as Forgotten Tomb or the incredibly underrated Novembre. One band, however, that is possibly even more overlooked than Novembre is the band Klimt 1918. Whilst this band has since completely abandoned their metal roots and transitioned into a more indie rock/shoegaze style, their brief venture into gothic metal in their earliest days was materialised on their debut album Undressed Momento, an overlooked little gem in this subgenre.
Produced by then-Novembre drummer Giuseppe Orlando, Undressed Momento developed on the band's first EP Secession Makes Post-Modern Music, expanding on the band's non-metal influences whilst still maintaining a core sound very much rooted in gothic metal. In that regard, the album sits in fairly similar sonic territory to Alternative 4/Judgement-era Anathema or Katatonia around the turn of the millennium, but with much more of a nod to 80s new wave rather than the progressive rock that inspired Anathema or Katatonia's later work. As previously noted though, Undressed Momento is still very much a metal album, mainly thanks to the impressive drumming of Paolo Soellner (especially on album opener "Pale Song" as well as the title track and final track "Stalingrad Theme") and the dense layers of distorted guitars provided by frontman Marco Soellner and guitarist Alessandro Pace, who later went on to form fellow Italian doomsters The Foreshadowing.
The layered guitars and melancholic vocals are what really help to give this album its overall bleak tone. Marco Soellner's vocals are never overly flashy, nor does he scream, but his vocal timbre works so well with the music in the same way that Vincent Cavanagh or Jonas Renske's vocals do - melancholic crooning that sits well with the music as a whole. In a similar vein, the guitars are way more focused on layering simple melodies on top of the riffs in a way that just works. At the same time, Undressed Momento does a great job at showing Klimt 1918's softer influences, particularly at the start of "That Girl" which sounds very reminiscent of The Cure.
It's a shame this album is as overlooked as it is, because it's something that most fans of Katatonia, Anathema and similar bands would really enjoy. It's equally a shame that Klimt 1918 have since strayed so far from their metal roots; Whilst there's a lot of great material on their follow-up albums that are all worthy of a listen, they really struck a near-perfect balance of gothic rock and metal on Undressed Momento, and the bitter-sweetness of knowing the band will likely never return to that sound is almost as bittersweet as the music itself.
