II: Lost

For an introspective ride in a fairly melodic vein, Ars Onirica - or, more exactly, Alessandro Sforza - returns for II: Lost to continue an interesting approach to doom death that incorporates the atmospheric tendencies of Novembre and Swallow The Sun. Not overburdening the album with content, some pieces are allowed to breathe with acoustic guitars, airy clean vocals, and backing synths, while at moments the sinuous melodic guitars of early Anathema crawl out of the mix too. The concoction is interesting in that it touches on all the different interpretations of placing the word "melodic" before doom death, changing direction from song to song without leaving mood or direction feeling sheared off at any point. Despite the title, Lost appears to have a consummate sense of direction.

Despite plenty of clean material, the majority of the listen still opts for pensive slow doom with huge growls, lead guitars providing copious detail as the listener wanders through 41 minutes of sometimes gloomy, sometimes hopeful shade and light. Not such a visceral experience, yet an emotionally satisfying one, Ars Onirica offers something for most dreamy listeners, and by adding precision to reverie on most of the songs (only 'Forever and a Day' feels very long) perhaps manages to be remembered better than other albums in this genre. All the same, Sforza does not exaggerate hooks, but instead lets his rich landscapes do much of the talking.


Originally written in edited form for Metalegion #12 - www.metalegion.com