Kev Rowland This is the fourth album by the Italians, but their first for some six years, and it has to be that the current line-up is somewhat unusual. It features Rossana Landi on vocals and double-bass, Bradac on piano, synths and orchestrations with Daniel P on 8 string guitar and Valerio M on violin. This is again one of those albums that I really didn’t understand when I was playing it during the day while doing other things, and was quite expecting that I was going to write a fairly scathing review when I sat down at the computer, but here in the dark of the night it takes on a whole new perspective. It mixes together classical and symphonic music in fashion not too disimilar to Karda Estra, but also brings in electronic sounds with a dark atmospheric edge and brooding presence. Having spent many hours watching my daughter at ballroom competitions I was also somewhat surprised to recognise the strains of both waltz and tango in the music, creating yet another dark ambience.

This is one of those albums that will be filed under gothic metal, when in reality they have loads of the former and very little of the latter. If one is expecting crunching guitars then this isn’t the place to look, and if you want something bright and cheery then I would look elsewhere, but if you want something incredibly atmospheric and dark with some very string female vocals and loads of space in the music then this just might be for you. As always, I would prefer ‘real’ drums, but given that there is plenty of instances when there is no need at all for percussion, electronic or otherwise, then I can’t complain too much. www.auralmusic.com