BOHÉMIEN are an Italian dark band formed in 1985 but, after only two years of great live performances, problems related to the dark/gothic scene crisis forced them to spilt up. In 2002 they finally decide to show the world what they have hidden in their closet, reforming the band and rearranging the old songs in a more modern way. Three are the original members, supported by the new bass player Giovanni Staccone and the vocalist/keyboard player Stefania Minutaglio.
The first song "Danza Pagana" embodies BOHÉMIEN style: New Wave/Dark with strong ’80 influences, supported by a very good use of instruments that makes each song an involving and intense experience: you can’t include them in the list of modern clone-bands, reproducing the past well-known cliché, for BOHÉMIEN don’t copy anyone, THEY WERE A PART OF THAT MOVEMENT. The singer Alex Buccini has a personal vocal approach, very particular but not simple to appreciate at once, accomplice the choice of singing in mother-tongue and the Italian new/wave vocal tradition (he remembers something of the first DIAFRAMMA’s approach). A sad piano introduces the song "Libido", enriched by a great guitar, playing notes like drops falling down. "Dirsi Addio" starts with cadenced Hammond chords in ¾, like an Italian or Eastern Europe folk song, a dramatic and sad ballad, really touching. I don’t know why but while listening to this song I imagine an old ’20 movie like "Nosferatu" or "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", ruins of castles and a gloomy sense of solitude. One of the best song. "Nella Nebbia (non oltre sarò)" emerges for a very good rhythmic bassline and a romantic chorus, while in "Les Jeaux Sont Faits" Stefania Minutaglio shows her sweet but disturbing voice on a dynamic and obsessive rhythmic section. A track in the pure style of traditional dark-rock, but with the right amount of melody and personal approach that makes the song very pleasant. A real torture for the soul is the piano introducing "Tra specchi", like looking at dawn in a winter day, strangled by anguish, drowning in the "long and dirty mirrors" showing our sins. Another great track, no doubt. Tribal and powerful is the drumming of "Sangue e Arena", while bass and guitar explode in the chorus. A bit of Spanish influence is in the air, nothing obvious, but you can feel it in guitar solos and chords, sweating passion. The next "Eclissi" is presented in two versions: the first is "Eclissi (dell’anima)" starts as a fast ride, with a great guitar and bass work, and a very passionate singing; the second one is a dreamy and romantic instrumental version, with something à la CURE, in particular for the keyboards pads. With this album BOHÉMIEN have closed with honour their debt with the past. I hope they’ll have now the force to look ahead and produce new songs, more and more affirming their personality and style. They’re back, and I hope for long.