My Kingdom Music aren’t the most consistent of labels. I say that, as they are not the kind of label that I would avoid, but rather one I would approach with a certain caution. I have managed to hand pick a number of gems from their roster, although to balance that out, I have encountered my share of dull and dreary albums disguised behind their ubiquitous ‘dark melancholic music’ tag. Listening to the first couple of tracks here was enough to make my ears prick up, thinking they had passed the test enough for this description to not apply to them. Whoever arranged the order of the tracks here clearly had some concept of marketing as opener ‘Terrenica’ skips any kind of build up and gets straight to the albums climax; it’s flowing melodies and rather dramatic apocalyptic keyboard flourishes doing a great job of luring me in.
Well, sometimes it can be best not to jump too soon to conclusions; visit a new place and decide you want to move there because the train station is nice and someone said hello to you, when if you had bothered to venture into the centre you would have discovered it really isn’t so pleasant after all. Sadly, the nine tracks that proceed the opener don’t sustain that same level of quality, and while the first few tracks manage to gradually decline in appeal, retaining a spark of allure, around the midway mark we hit a rapid descent into the ocean of mediocrity. The soothing sounds of ‘In Viaggio’ are certainly pleasant, and the Italian tongue offers a warm, European beauty. The chorus to ‘L’Inizio Di Una Catastrofe’ has a nice bounce and vivacity to it, which is embedded in some crazy guitar harmonies that refuse to conform.
There is a hugely progressive flavour in parts of this album, putting across an air of sophistication without alienating the listener. The obvious appeal to this band is the vocals of Angy which are really bright and delightfully quaint while she has a very natural sound which matches her appearance. Once we get to ‘Le Strade Di Zoran’ I really have to wonder what went wrong; a dripping-wet ballad which has about as much to offer as a Westlife album filler. If this is anyone’s idea of dark and melancholic then I’d say their dictionary lied to them; last I checked dark and melancholic didn’t equate to dull and dreary and seriously if I had to endure a whole album of this I would be rocking back and forth ripping out my hair in chunks. Luckily, the only other track quite so dire is the cringeworthy balladic note the album end on with ‘Domani.’
‘L’Uomo Della Preistoria’ really confounds with its spoken intro which reminds me of one of those voiceovers you might hear on a nature documentary, before a fierce riff steamrolls through making this one of the heavier parts to the album. This certainly has my mind split in two; on one hand there are some great tracks such as ‘Terrenica’ and ‘Novembre,’ but as a complete album this really doesn’t make me want to shout from the rooftops, and has as many soporific fillers as that aforementioned Westlife album.
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