U.M.A.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Applying that logic to this release [titled U.M.A.] I find myself agape and struggling to find the proper words to describe it. Symphonic and progressive black metal wrapped around concepts of space travel, technology, and exploration; gods, just thinking of that style just gives me goosebumps. And let me tell you, a thousand words is simply not enough to describe the epic awesomeness of this album.

It starts off so serene and symphonic, yet when I did some research on this band, I was eager to glean the treasures they had to offer. The first track, entitled "Progenie Terrestre Pura" leads in gently from the get-go, with some really smooth and layered synth samples, and before you get yourself lost in it, the guitars lash outward! The ambiance is a perfect opener, leading the listener on an epic journey through space to unknown, distant stars in search of ultimate truth. I think my favorite part of this track was the solo. It's just so . . . unique. It takes away nothing from the overall immersion and ambiance, but instead amplifies it like their spacecraft just hit warp and they're traveling through a goddamned wormhole or something! But again, I've always been something of a sci-fi / space tech nerd, so maybe it's just my own views on it.

The longest track on the album was "Sovrarobotizzazione", clocking in at 13 minutes exactly. Much like its predecessor, it too is hypnotically ambient, something I could see playing video games to, like Megaman or Mass Effect, some game with a space theme or tech theme at least! But, unlike the first track, Sovrarobotizzazione adds something new to the mix: ambient brutality. A contradictory term on first glance, I know, but that's the best way to describe it! The guitars go from hyper ambient to crunchy, and it isn't a bad thing. Granted, if you're not prepared for it, it'll blindside you and take some of the ambience away, but from my perspective, it adds a new and interesting "flavor" to this already good song.

I think my favorite track was the fourth one, called "Droni". Not to say that any of the other tracks were inferior, but this one was different in a way that isn't easy to describe. Where the others were hypnotic and entrancing, this one was stark and gritty. It also maintained the same overall style and flow of the others, but it just reminded me more of the grotesqueness of technology, whereas all the others reminded me of how powerful and elegant and streamlined technology is. This one reeked of rust, decay, ash, and grinding gears. The bowels of a spacecraft, if you will.

All in all, this album is powerhouse. It is something I could see me recommending even to the pickiest listener. I could recommend it to people who hate metal and see them coming around to loving it and metal overall, be it black metal, space metal progressive metal, or anything in between It's a pity these guys from Italy don't have much more to their discography, because I would hunt these albums down to the ends of this planet and others, should it allow me the privilege of owning more glorious masterpieces such as this.

Noteworthy Tracks: Progenie Terrestre Pura, La Terra Rossa Di Marte, Droni