Review Summary: Italian progressive melodic death metal to czech
What we have here is an Italian progressive melodic death metal project by Enrico Longhin (guitars, keys and vocals) who has “produced, written and composed” Ombra. From the romantic city of Venice, the band is rounded out by Davide Carraro (lead guitars), Massimo Cocchetto (bass) and Edo Sala (drums) who have combined to produce a compelling and ultimately resounding pezzo d'arte. That is besides the separately composed orchestral opening The “Intro: II Tema Dell’ombra” (Intro: The Theme of the Shadow) which is a grand curtain raiser to pique interest as it could suit a multitude of pieces, as could the intriguing album art.
“The Overlord Disease” sits comfortably in that space between progressive metal and progressive rock as it glides from harsh to clean vocals and the guitars chug n groove before a solo bridge in this dark personal tale. As my favorite shade of melodeath, this has feeling and purpose. Very much sharing characteristics with bands like In Mourning, Sermon and In Vain, the following track “Illuminant” weaves an engaging palette that connects with the listener on an aggregate basis.
Amongst the layers of contributing elements, it (as always) is the singing that is most pivotal. Many like acts fail my personal standards on singing and vocals but these are strong and consistent and most importantly varied and interesting. Longhin’s clean singing voice reminds me of the distinctive pipes of Jason Cameron (ex-Bury Tomorrow) having a resonating timbre allowing him to comfortably hit notes within his range but also allows seamless transitions to his equally powerful death growls.
The title track is in Italian which I find strangely soothing and homely, despite possessing no understanding of the language itself. It helps that the song is the album peak in songcraft and character, imbued with charm. Songs like “This River Spoke” are about the journey not the destination and are best enjoyed in each moment, with a mid tempo pace suiting this and most other tracks in the record. That’s not to say there’s no highlights within songs as the opening minute to “Lifetime Damage” attests. As one of the premier songs, the vocal hooks, riffs and melodies combine both intelligently and artistically that is to say with the head and heart.
This is mixing and mastering par for the course for career pro Fredrik Nordström who brings the record to life. It’s a sound that reminds me of Dark Tranquillity, with guitars taking centre stage but flanked by keyboard flourishes and a deep bottom end as evidenced in “Withered” and “Our Tides”. The quality runs deep and it has a lot to do with the variety of instrumentation and vocalization, the constant change ups and the short tight songs which together lends to accessibility. “Passage” has some Opeth elements and by now we’ve established the heavy Swedish influence, but there’s enough Italian personality to stand out from the pack. “Thirst” has a closer feel and its urgency indicates this is a progressive metal project that has no intention of letting up, in the spirit of progress.
