2011
Released back in 2011, and acting as a proper introduction to this Italian-based post-progressive/alternative metal 4-piece act, it's only now that "Facing the Opposite" is making the rounds to various music-blogs for review and much-warranted promotion. Why it's taken several years for the album to get out to it's target audience is any one's guess, but for whatever reason, and sometimes for no reason at all, albums just slip through the cracks. Here it is 2013 and well, as luck would have it, this Italian band has just now fallen in with the right crowd as there is now a serious push being given to this (relatively) young act. To quote Guns N' Roses: "All we need is just a little patience". The band, which was formed in Verona in 2008 by some musicians/friends, forged their own identity over the course of two demos before hitting the studio for what would become "Facing the Opposite". As far as debut-recordings go the band (Timothy Bertolini-vocals/guitar, Daniele Pasetto-vocals/guitar, Gherardo Sabaini-bass guitar and Jacopo Frapporti-drums) deserved better then the original fate of this album would have suggested. Without heaping undue praise upon this album (as it does carry more than a few traits of it's obvious influences) the fact remains that, for a debut-release, "Facing the Opposite" is a well-designed/fine-tuned piece of plastic (to use an old term to describe a new record). Influenced one hand by such bands as Tool, Katatonia, Mastodon and Isis this Italian group also had/has a passion for Porcupine Tree, Radiohead and Mogway. It's actually somewhere between Tool and Katatonia that most folks would agree is where this young band firmly plants it's feet. As someone who is not as well-versed in all things post-progressive as I'd like to be (let's face it friends at my age there's only so much new knowledge that can be crammed into this head of mine without something else spilling over!) I will simply state that I hear the Tool and Radiohead influences as well as the Porcupine Tree, Mastodon and Isis leanings. Whatever or whoever you decide to reference back to tends to be a mute point though when you're talking about the quality of the material on hand. The music here invokes an emotional response and the band, with a keen eye focused on making the music inspirational and interesting, utilizes all the tools (no pun intended!) at their disposal to keep you glued in place as the music washes over you. At times, thanks to some creative use of keyboards, the music does take it's chance on becoming too much too soon, but it skirts that line like thread through a needle. As this is simply album number one for the band (and seeing as they have no doubt evolved since this one was originally recorded) there's a bright future ahead for this bunch if they can keep their compact chemistry in check. I look forward to hearing more from this Italian group down the road.
http://onabridgeofdust.bandcamp.com/
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