THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM

Zerothehero is the project of Italian talented multi-instrumentalist Carlo Barreca, a man who knows how to gather the necessary elements to create good music. His debut album was released in 2011 via Mellow Records, however, he had already composed some tracks for a 2009 EP entitled "the.christmas.album" which features seven songs that make a total time of 23 minutes. The first song is "Clouds", which is also the longest of the album with almost six minutes. The organ is prominent during the whole song, there is a dark atmosphere that seems to be lightened later; the melody is soft and the rhythm mid-tempo. A nice opener.

"December" continues with the same soft style, but here an acoustic guitar is implemented, creating a sweet and calm sound. The organ keeps sounding all the time as background, while there is also a constant drumming over there. The music flows, and then all of a sudden we are in the third track. "Down From the Stars" has now the sound of a bass as the main instrument. It creates a nice atmosphere, calm, almost relaxing.

"Moon" is a shorter track, only a minute of (I think) improvisation where Barreca plays his bass and put some odd effects in the background. It leads to another short track with a rockier sound and a happier mood. "Santa's Run" has electronic drums and the bass sound in a lead role, making some addictive lines that may put you in a good mood. What I don't like of it is that it finishes all of a sudden, a terrible cut sounds and then "Snow" begins with a much calmer rhythm and a cleaner bass sound. Later an electric guitar is added, and then a beautiful and delicate flute enters as well, making this probably the most dynamic track of the album.

And it finishes with "Wind" which is another good track, with organ again as back, while a nice rhythm is created and complemented by bass, guitars and drums, putting nice textures on it. I have to say that the music here is not bad at all, but it is not memorable either, however, one can have a slice of what zerothehero's music is about. This is free-to- download, so if you wish, go and get it. My final grade will be two stars.

Enjoy it!