LoreWeaveR – Italic
LoreWeaveR are an Italian five piece progressive metal band heralding from Italy that were formed in 2008. The band have taken the Dream Theater styled approach to their song writing using various keyboard tones to set the mood for crunching guitar riffs and powerful female vocals. Their second album Italic was released in late April of 2014 offering various styles throughout the album.
The album Italic is the kind of album that during the course of listening you can hear the band find their signature sound. You begin to familiarise yourself with the different aspects of the band and it sounds like the band did the same thing whilst recording. This isn’t to say that the album starts weak, it just doesn’t pack as much of a punch as the rest of the album. Opening with the track Rigor Mortis, the band show of their musical talent from the get go with wonderful drum lines to back an epic sounding keyboard and guitar harmony with wonderful tones. But from here the track begins to slow down and faces the problem that many bands face within the contemporary progressive metal scene; the fact it sounds very similar to Dream Theater. Whilst this isn’t a bad thing, you want the band to find their own sound as oppose to writing reworked Dream Theater songs. This is notable on the track Angry Tears that opens with a very similar riff to Dream Theater’s 2005 track These Walls. This begins to happen as the album goes on. Track three titled Lionheart is the first instance of the band changing things up a bit with powerful riffs hitting you from the beginning and showcasing the heavier side of the band which works really well with Barbara Rubin’s vocal style.
Barbara Rubin’s vocals are definitely an important factor for the band (ed. Barbara Rubin left the band after the album release). Throughout the album she displays very powerful vocal performances that soar through wonderful piano pieces and then snarl at you through vigorous guitar riffs. Her vocals display a lot of power that pierce through the tracks but not as much as you’d like to hear and sometimes piercing through the tracks too much.
Overall the album displays great musicianship from a very promising Italian band that display moments of ethereal beauty that gently move you along, only to be pummelled down by Pantera styled riffs in some cases, most notably in the song Vae Victus. Whilst the band showcase what they can do, the album unfortunately can’t bring anything too refreshing into the genre.
Tracklist:
1. Rigor Mortis (7:34)
2. My Freedom (11:58)
3. Lionheart (7:18)
4. Angry Tears (8:55)
5. Vae Victis (6:17)
6. The River Suit (15:57)
Line-up:
* Claudio Cavalli – drums
* Daniele Focante – bass
* Francesco Salvadeo – guitars
* Lorenzo Marcenaro – keyboards
* Barbara Rubin – vocals
Links:
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