ITALIC

Italian band LOREWEAVER was formed back in 2008, and released their debut album "Imperviae Auditiones" in 2011 through Italian label SG Records. "Italic" is their sophomore production, and was issued through French label Musea Records in 2014.

I recall that Loreweaver's debut album was a fine album in most respects, but one that for me at least suffered slightly from the vocals not being quite aligned to the music it was a part of as I experienced this production. That isn't an issue this time around, as the vocals is a much better fit in the arrangements as a whole on this occasion. As such, those with an interest in progressive metal sporting a female vocalist should have a nice band to get familiar with here.

Loreweaver's take on progressive metal is one that resides well inside the classic progressive metal sound, and perhaps most of all inside a context that should be familiar to fans of a band such as Dream Theater. At times a bit too close to comfort perhaps, but as long as the compositions are well made that isn't a problem as such. The opening pair of tracks here, named Rigor Mortis and My Freedom respectively, stands out for me as possibly the strongest cuts here despite some rather obvious references in terms of how the dark, dirty guitar riffs and majestic keyboard textures blend and complement each other. The second of these also sports what is a recurring feature later on, with gentler and more careful sequences added to the otherwise more majestic and hard hitting passages that has more of a purebred progressive metal touch. In fact, third track Lionheart is just about the only other purebred example of a purebred, tight metal composition besides opening cut Rigor Mortis, and Lionheart is also the song where vocalist Rubin showcase the more aggressive part of her vocal repertoire most extensively, with a type and mode of delivery there comparable to a singer like Chastain's Leather Leone.

From forth track Angry Tears and onward to concluding piece Soldatino Industriale we're presented with compositions that have more of an elaborate character and structure, where Angry Tears and the massive, epic length The River Suite in particular examples of songs sporting multiple themes and developments, alternating gentle and harder edged arrangements and, at least to my taste, with perhaps just a bit too much going at times, to the extent that tension and momentum has a tendency to suffer from that. One of those small details that separate a song from being merely a good and pleasant experience to being a great and thrilling one. Such notions is obviously something that boils down to personal taste rather than quality, a matter of how you enjoy and listen to music, as others might highlight those very same compositions as the clear highlights due to the manner in which they experience them based on their taste in music.

All in all an enjoyable album of fairly sophisticated classic era progressive metal that primarily explore the Dream Theater variety of this style, and expands the canvas to include also passages and sequences of a more careful and gentle nature from time to time. Those who treasure the Dream Theater variety of progressive metal should obviously be a key audience for this album, and then especially those amongst them that are also fond of music with an occasional gentler and milder expression at times.