:
June 17 2007
Artist: ATARAXIA pando {at} misterweb {dot} it ]
Title: Kremasta Nera
Format: CD
Label: Ark Records info {at} arkrecords {dot} net ]
Distributor: Masterpiece Distribution
Rated:
This is the new album from the Italian band ATARAXIA, whose discography would take ten minutes to be told, considering all the albums, DVDs, solo projects and collaborations they did in nearly twenty years. But surely they are a band than doesn’t need a presentation anymore. What emerges listening to their albums is that, since the beginning, they had a distinguished and recognizable style and every new record, even though always adding something new, gives you what you expect from them and never disappoints. KREMASTA NERA is not an exception and surely every previous fan will appreciate it, but at the same time adds more influences that make their sound even more intense and expands their stylistic horizons. The concept of the album is about Axieros, the White Goddess of the Greek isle of Samothrace, and explores the religious beliefs and rituals that her followers had to practice. “Kremasta Nera” enriches the usual medieval sound of ATARAXIA with a strong influence from ancient music, with Hellenistic and Oriental influences, and transports you in a historical era submerged by the dust of centuries, where you will dance around the fire and listen to hypnotic mantras leading you to trance. The use of ethnic percussions (both acoustic and electric), played by the guest musician Riccardo Spaggiari, adds that right element that makes this album really wonderful, like in “The Nine Rituals”, “Ochram” or “Kaviria” just to mention few. Francesca Nicoli’ enhances her vocal skills, alternating chant, recitation, ritual lamentations or other influences I could say from African singing (in “Ochram” I thought there was a Senegalese guest singer). I think the ritualistic and theatrical musical approach find its top in “Therma”, so obsessive it evokes visions as in a delirium or in ecstatic trance, while in “Ebur” an unexpected electric guitar adds a lacerating melody to a powerful and cadenced track that’s perfect for a colossal movie. But this isn’t the only dimension you’ll find in “Kremasta Nera”, that also gives pearls of sweetness (more similar to the “traditional” music of the band) like “Fengari” or “La Fame e la Danza” where classic guitar and keyboard pads support an Italian singing full of sadness and melancholy. Definitely, an album pervaded by the perfume of exotic incenses and burning torches, deep and intense, to be listened at medium-high volume (or headphones with closed eyes) to be completely submerged by visions. It’s a door to a forgotten age, if you dare to discover it.
Review by: Ferruccio Milanesi ferruccio {dot} milanesi {at} chaindlk {dot} com ]
ID # 3741