The Secret "Luce" CD
[Goodfellow]
After a pounding instrumental intro that has a great sense of force, this Italian band drops into an intense brand of rhythmic and caustic metalcore, though they're definitely bringing in outside influences as well.  For the most part the overall quality here is very good, despite the fact that the bulk of the band's material isn't particularly original.  You'll find generally long songs of four to six minutes or more that offer lots of quick changes and guitar layering covering everything from discordant chord phrasings and frantic flurries of notes to your typical pull-off riffs or midpaced chugga breaks, all fronted by distorted vocal screams that fall deep in the mix against the instruments.  Where the band truly shines is in their penchant for randomly tossing in punishing rhythms layered with droning guitar effects, akin to bands like Cult of Luna or other such acts that kind of flirt with loosely experimental textures.  As soon as they start to hit on moments like that, notably midway through "Close to Me, Inside My Heart" with a nice and spacious tempo that gives the subtle melodies and intricate layers plenty of breathing room, the songs take on an entirely new sense of atmosphere and become far more intriguing.  This makes it almost a shame when they slide back into choppy staccato picking patterns and a slew of riffs that sound more akin to any contemporary metalcore group that grew up on a steady diet of Botch, Converge, and The Dillinger Escape Plan... but at least these kids write quality riffs regardless of how connected they are to the lineage of their influences.  Songs like the six-minute "Fire isn't Always Meant to Burn" are a little overbearing in their emphasis on typical metalcore jargon with come and go changes all over the place, but again... a little past four minutes in when the clean guitars creep in against those weird reverberated noises and things build into a slick climax with lots of dissonant melody, the track ends on a massively awesome note.  Now... if only they'd write entire songs like that!  The poorly titled "Pretty Girls Make Graves" (come on, it's already a Smiths song and a fucking band name, guys) is the only track that briefly uses singing vocals, and along with "Oslo" it's also the only track of a substantial length that remains cohesive from start to finish, which is certainly where I think they should be heading since these two end the disc on a damn strong note.  Also helpful is the fact that they've secured a very nice recording.  The drums sound natural and possess a lot of warmth, the bass has some faint distortion to it but still has its own area to roam around, and despite a shitload of little bits and pieces of different guitar tones and riffs there's a lot of clarity to that aspect as well.  It's a great decision for the vocals to fall as far back in the mix as they do, and the guitar tones are heavy without being over the top or forced.  Of course there's room for improvement, but there's nothing worth singling out as a problem area because the end result sounds effective and makes for a strong listen.  The layout looks damn nice on this one too, with lots of consistent artwork and layers of texture and a soft sort of feel with muted colors.  I definitely dig that.  Sadly the lyrics are pretty weak.  In typical fashion they claim they're "not a christian band" and say that it's "not their intention to talk about that in their songs", but there's a definite thread of "spirituality" or whatever in the content.  They do tactfully handle that whole angle (capitalizing "You" rather than outright referring to "god" or "Jesus"), but even beyond that a lot of the stuff is kind of sappy.  I just can't hang with imagery like, "It's so silent around dead red roses," you know?  I don't care about the christian undercurrent, I care about the fact that the lyrics aren't interesting or moving.  This is a unique release in that they manage to come across with a really solid record despite falling into some of the common traps of the metalcore genre at large - namely generic riffing and songwriting that can at times lose focus.  Every song has its amazing riffs and its areas that seem a little dull, but were the band to focus on the more emotional and affecting music exemplified during the finer points of this CD they could be an absolutely incredible force to be reckoned with.  Brief instrumentals like intro "The Long Night of Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade" and "Segue" (the latter of which touches on a few emo/indie styles not apparent anywhere else herein) are the only songs that fall completely into said category (with "Pretty Girls Make Graves" and "Oslo" close behind).  But even as it stands this is a good release, and one that will no doubt garner the band a lot of attention from fans who are already into the more frenetic style of metalcore.  I'm hoping they'll blossom into their own brand of creativity with the next one, ‘cause that could be a definite keeper.  The best riffs on this disc are honestly 10 times better than its average fare, and I could imagine being completely floored if they were able to attain that level for an entire album. (7/10)
Running time - 38:22, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: The Long Night of Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade, Segue, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Oslo]
Goodfellow Records - http://www.goodfellowrecords.com

This review has been displayed 2438 times.