Portrait of a Dying Heart

Huh.

Ever since I heard that Michele Luppi was on board with Secret Sphere, this became one of my most anticipated albums of 2012. But now that it’s here, I’m just not quite sure what to do. Luppi is still definitely on the top of his game, and this is probably the most straight-up power metal project that he’s ever performed in, but the juxtaposition of his vocal skills with my pre-conceived notions of Secret Sphere’s sound (based upon owning most of their albums) has created a strange phenomenon indeed.

This could just be me, because I’ve heard a lot of press for this album already, and most of it good. Put simply, this just doesn’t sound much like I expect Secret Sphere to sound. The guitar work is subdued a bit on the first half to make room for more emphasis on the vocals than ever before, though the keyboard work is just as distinctive as it has been since Sweet Blood Theory (where I feel they became more of a unique characteristic). Despite being featured rather heavily on the first few tracks of the album (including the exceptionally long instrumental title track), the beginning emphasis of keyboard is part of what causes Portrait Of A Dying Heart to start fairly slowly.

Slowly, that is, until single “The Fall” hammers listeners with what is undoubtedly the most aggressive performance I’ve ever heard from either Secret Sphere or Luppi himself. So much so that the transition from the initial riff into the verse is almost jarring to the point of seeming ill-conceived. Luckily, this problem doesn’t really happen again, and the whole band delivers a pretty great performance from this point onwards. I can’t help but compare this to former Luppi projects like Vision Divine and especially Killing Touch, and not just because of the sound of his voice, but his choral and layering effects (which are absolutely unmistakable). I don’t know how much Luppi was responsible for in terms of songwriting, but the vibe that I get from the band is that they signed him on board, only to be shanghaied for his own purposes.

I think that most Secret Sphere fans will enjoy this work, but I think they’ll agree with me that the band has lost a bit of its previous identity with the departure of Robert Messina. Standing on its own, Portrait Of A Dying Heart seems to be a bit more ferocious, and yet introspective and well-tempered than most of the what the band has previously offered. On the other hand, it’s also fairly incomparable to the band’s older material, and any progress that the band has made in recent years seems to now be irrelevant. The production is sleek and the musicianship tighter than ever before, however. Up to this point in Secret Sphere’s career, it’s quite the anomaly. This isn’t like a band tweaking itself, it’s more of a complete sound revolution, as more elements have been affected than just the singer. Luppi seems to have brought along a penchant for progginess that the entire band has adopted.

So ultimately, Portrait Of A Dying Heart stands on its own amidst both Secret Sphere’s catalog and Michele Luppi’s own portfolio. I can’t say that it’s the best work that either has ever done, but it IS a very good collaboration, and I’m interested to see how it continues. In the meantime, this album is a bit of a grower, and so I’m going to go right on spinning it.

Original review written for Black Wind Metal

In much the same way as the ongoing speed metal scene in Germany, the Italian power/prog. scene has seen it's fair share of musical chairs being played by individual vocalists and instrumentalists. The latest twist in this game of switching folds is the exodus of longtime impresario and arguably the closest person to an overt clone of Laybrinth's Rob Tiranti in Roberto Messina, and the rather surprising introduction of former Vision Divine replacement for Fabio Lione (originally of Labyrinth as well) in Michele Luppi. This approach to the changing of the guard is not without a massive level of convenience for the bands in question and their fans alike, given that all outfits in question have a very similar style. And by necessary consequence, the resulting sound of "Potrait Of A Dying Heart" sounds quite similar to the 3 Vision Divine albums that Luppi sang on, but perhaps most particularly that of "Stream Of Consciousness" given that this album is the most complex and overtly power metal of anything that Secret Sphere has done since "A Time Never Come".

As a whole, this album listens like a polished gem from the late 90s era of Italian power metal, with a somewhat cleaner, crisper, yet somehow misty and smooth character to it. The level of traditional double bass speed drumming that typically dominated the style of most European power metal bands about 12 years ago is definitely a factor here, as is the lead fill happy riffing style that this band has generally exhibited and has been the one thing separating them from Vision Divine and, to a lesser extent, Labyrinth as well. By way of contrast, Luppi's vocals have always had more of a crystal clarity to them that make for a slightly stronger choral character when multiple vocal harmonies are employed than that of Lione or Tiranti, though those two have an edge over him with regard to raw power when laying down an individual lead vocal performance.

The mix of songs on here is another element pointing back to a period of this band's history that had generally been forgotten in the wake of a number of slower, more rock oriented offerings that followed the mold of "Scent Of Human Desire", an album that is regarded by some as the band's low point (I concur with them on this). On the faster and triumphant side of things are "X", "Secrets Fear" "The Fall" and "Wish And Steadiness", all songs that lean towards the longer winded yet more Stratovarius leaning character of this band's early offerings. On the slower and more ballad-like side are "Lie To Me" and "Union", each one leaning back toward the more recent style that defined the previous album "Archetype" and it's predecessor "Sweet Blood Theory". While most fans may prefer the former, high octane approach to filling out the stretches of music between the progressive noodling, there is definitely a slight charm to their ballads as well that hints at the transitional works of Fates Warning in the early 90s with a greater hint of 80s rock infused into the melodic content.

Be all this as it may, for anyone who is thinking of picking up the Japanese edition of this album, the greatest song on this album is actually the rerecording of "Legend" that made it on as a bonus track. It's the last testament and send off of vocalist Roberto Messina and features a much needed production clean up and adaptation into Secret Sphere's present sound. In essence, it sounds like what it would've sounded like had Labyrinth recorded it back in 1998 as a b-side to "Return To Heaven Denied", complete with Messina's vocal performance resembling the cleaner, Tiranti character that he's been touting since 2003 rather than the dirty, almost semi-Kai Hansen character of his contributions to the first couple of albums. It's not quite enough to take this album up above their magnum opus "A Time Never Come" (which also has this song), but it's a definitely must hear for anyone who has stuck with this band since the late 90s.

To any doubters and fence sitters, there isn't really anything to fear if this band has been a preferred choice in your collection. Michele Luppi doesn't really sound like Messina, but his contribution here is beyond adequate and sees the band staying comfortably in the usual mode of things that they've been in with a strong inclination towards the earlier side of their career. It's equally as melancholy, obsessed with love and relationships, and occasionally dabbling in the realm of fantasy as the rest of the respective scene, and stands as one of the better albums to come out of 2012.