Spellcraft

16/07/2002
	tears like rain this feeling season five equilibrium stolen time

*SPELLCRAFT: "Tears Like Rain"* www.spellcraft.it**

review by Dalia "Gryphon_spirit" Di Giacomo
Ah yes! The weight of this "Tears like Rain" is worthy to be estimated in gold! Three heavy guitars (bass included obviously) that still are able to produce metal aggressivity, valuable riffs but also atmosphere and sweetnes, without turning to a large amount of electronics, and resolute drums are definitively the weapons of this new Italian band which is playing a cool dark music. Practically, nowadays it's almost a kind of miracle. Influenced at my opinion by the Paradise Lost of the Icon era, by Sentenced and more in general by dark notes coming from gothic and melodic Death as well, Spellcraft have elaborated a personal style where heaviness, melody and rhythm are balanced to create a musical scheme that is even harder than that one of Cayne . The fact that they sound so modern also without industrial -like effects and electro-metal arrangements is an awsome alchemy and surely a sign of the ability of the whole group. These dark chords free from the general "new, more or less gothic, wave" of the anno domini 2002 could be heard by some ears a little bit rough, sometimes primordial, but it's because there are no compromises here (still not!): this music is actually a kind of topical "call of the wild" ! Whether dark heavy rock or gothic dark metal , it' s sure that this music is a pleasure for all who still love to hear a great and genuine guitar work. The consideration more important methinks is that we are hearing metal, anyway! . Me , who has always loved the bands who are playing real gothic metal, with or without a large keyboards use, cause they are not forgetting that the dark style is a branch of the metal family, can say that this CD is my cup of blood. And let me say with pride (Italian as I am....hehehhhe, coincidence, believe me!) that I am noticing that many bands that are proposing dark metallic music, though different from one another, are coming from Italy (Evenfall just to make an example). Could it be Italy the cradle of a distinctive musical genre, now that the German Crematory have left such an empty space (sigh!)? And if Spellcraft have already got appreciation and attention from a good part of the Italian audience, playing also with acts like Morgana's Kiss and Novembre, they have only to be discovered now by the large European markt that, i imagine, would welcome them with open arms. I don't know, but the more i hear this MCD, the more i like it: every time there is a note to discover, a chord to enjoy, a passage to understand more, and though the first impact is in general catchy enough, this music is not simple and easy at all, so that you find everytime a new particular that you haven't noticed before, and i am wondering what these tracks could become in the hands of some great producer. Anyway the mix and the production shown by this mini album is not bad, though it could really be better: music and vocals can be appreciated anyway with good satisfaction .

Let's say immediately that all five tracks are very good, but two of them are, at my opinion, so brilliant that can compete with tracks of the most important bands who are playing with a similar style, and that could be the joy of a wide range of listeners, from the heavy metal lovers to the gothic ones, from Sentenced till Paradise Lost and Dark Tranquillity fans. And these two excellent tracks are the opener "Tears Like Rain" and "Equilibrium". TEARS LIKE RAIN develops in 6 minutes everything what a dark metal track can present, offering everything what a metal heart can ask for: atmosphere, heaviness, decadent passages, melody and power, lead guitar riffs à la Mackintosh of the Icon legendary time with many distorced sounds supported by a tireless rhythmic section, with agreeable time changings, a voice that sounds angry and broken though still enough clean, a catchy music that is however not pop at all.

"EQUILIBRIUM" is beginning rather soft and exotic turning very soon in a dark melodic bomb. Supported by heavy , angry , pulsing guitars, a melody, which is keeping the singer Gino under pressure, is taking form in an impressive way. Some vocal effects are also present. It is sounding totally timeless and spaceless passing from notes which can remind you palms under the sun to pine-trees under a medieval snow, without omitting a certain metropolitan alienation. Incredible! THIS FEELING shows an angry melancholy and a hard and particular mid tempo proceeding, with a lot of alienating atmospheric notes which burst in an exasperated melody, ending in a kind of fascinating repetitive loop. SEASON FIVE is a well mixed combination of heaviness and implacable energetic rhythm showing anyway a certain melancholy made up "ad hoc" by fast pushing guitars and bass bombs thrown by the drums, which are all implacable during the whole song: Indeed rather melancholic, acoustic- like is however the way it ends. STOLEN TIME is a valuable track which is anyway rather difficult cause there are many virtuoso moments and tempo changings where guitars and bass are expressing themselves in personal moments too, among double bass drums and angry vocals and echoes. In the general uptempo, where drums are a really driving force, it appears also a very slow and hypnotic intermezzo where the bass is the leading instrument. Excellent and bombastic the final. Eh no Gino & co. ! , damned you are if you think to remain "hidden" in Italy! We too, hungry souls from the other side of the Alps, want some of this music!
Dalia "Gryphon_spirit" Di Giacomo