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.

Second album for the Italian medieval band LUPERCALIA, four years after "Soehrimnir". Now the band is composed only by guitarist Riccardo Prencipe and vocalist Clauda Florio, plus various guest musicians. Since the first track emerges the work of the violinist Gianluca Uccio as a great wave of freshness, with an intense and emotional performance, sometimes giving the right liveliness to the most rhythmic songs. Music has lost the excessive use of synths as in the previous album, and offers medieval tunes played mostly with classic guitar, violin, percussions and Claudia’s soprano voice. In some songs the band shows a good inspiration, such as in "Praga" or "Ouroboros", "Axe"and "Aegiypto and Siciliam", alternating deep and reflective moments and medieval dances, and in "Rebis" vocalist is at her best. On the contrary, in rhythmic tracks electronic percussions are often confuse and noisy and, above all, the soprano, even if good as timbre and technique, gives the impression of excessive affectation, in contrast with the immediate and direct message of music, as happens in "Aegiypto and Siciliam" or "Ouroboros". About the cover of DEAD CAN DANCE’s "The Wind That Shakes The Barley", without doubt it could have been avoided: while the original gives a feeling of simplicity and peace, this one appears to me only as an exercise of technique, very well sung but without inspiration.

This band has been a great discover! I received many emails and didn’t know if they were spam or a band promoting themselves with enigmatic mails with only a link (like virus usually do...). Curiosity killed the cat.... somebody said. Unexpectedly I’ve been gifted with this jewel of modern music. A new ensemble mixing the deep and intense message of dark music, together with soft melodies, sometimes with good commercial potentialities, experimentations and noise, art-rock and a dramatic approach. Biography says DEMETER is composed by musicians from New York, London, Helsinki and Barcelona, creating in this way a varied and full of influences support for the melodic and whispering voice of Anna Mercedes. First track "Addict" starts with a dark-pop attitude, with some echoes from GARBAGE: a good song showing DEMETER’s capacity of writing catchy but not stupid melodies. "Dare you" offers a disturbing landscape, a space-rock atmosphere enforced by electronic pads and a nervous work of drums and electric guitar. "Falling", introduced by an ambient-industrial noise, starts with a simple piano passage, a rhythmic heartbeat-like percussive pulse, and a whispering. It’s like being trapped in a cage with lights broken. Title is perfect: as song goes on, tension increases, giving a sensation of choking or falling down in a pit. "One Last Kiss" is like a trip-hop song, very sad... solitude embraces you in a rainy day, alone in a little apartment in New York, while the world outside goes on indifferent to you. "Venus" closes this too short CD, with a softer atmosphere, rich of BOWIE’s influences, again a potentially commercial song but with a strong personality. Every song is a pearl, and I wish I could hear more from this band, surely they’ve given me a real shock. Strongly recommended.

Debut Ep for this German band, free from the excessive bonds of the "Gothic" scene. Music can surely be described as Dark Rock, but the various influences the band shows and the will to avoid copying the too abused Eldritch’s deep voice, give a personality to these new comer and puts them outside the flock. Songs are fresh, above all good rock music, with good choruses and harmony among musicians.After the short intro "The Temple of Twilight", the first song "Misery" starts as an intense ballad, a mid tempo with a strong emotional charge, exploding as a desperate cry. The following "Anywhere" enforces this rock attitude: I imagine an ?80-’90 American hard-rock band playing in a empty room, but with a darker feeling. The result, I must admit, is touching. "Firewalking" starts with a piano, again a midtempo, with a violin giving an atmosphere à la apocalyptic folk (SOL INVICTUS, but it’s the only similitude), then a break, something like a bell freezes the air, and a dramatic ’80 New Wave guitar riff explodes, introducing a pressing and rhythmic chorus, with a good keyboard work. "Into the Light", in my opinion, is the best song, since the first notes it sweep you away with a heavy wall of sound and the chorus is damn good. Rhythm section and guitar give their best performance. "Poison", good song with some ’70 LED ZEPPELIN influences in the guitar "obbligato", in the choruses shows Darc’s voice at his dirtiest point, a gothic Rod Stewart or QUIREBOYS’ Spike.Surely many things can be done better, both in arrangements and production, some passages give the impression of a bit "out of phase" at the beginning of "Firewalking", for example. But this is only the first TOT’s work, an Ep and I expect good things from this ensemble. Well Done!

Looking at the band’s photos I expected a Doom or Orchestral Doom Metal band, as THE 3RD AND THE MORTAL or the first THE GATHERING, and at the first listening I wasn’t positively impressed. But I never write reviews at first listen. Time passed, and already at the second listening I discovered a band with very good potentialities. CRYSTAL ENTITY (from Netherlands) offers a sort of Gothic Rock with rhythmical and fresh atmospheres, dark and heavy but not oppressive. Atmospheres can be described as New-Wave/Dark but sometimes guitars show a light Metal influence. Voice is melodic, listenable and it’s not the usual slow orchestral female voice: enjoyable melodies, good choruses, sometimes Maja’s voice makes me remember the great SIOUXIE, showing personality and resolution. I think voice is good, but in the future it could be used in a better way: English pronunciation is a bit harsh, a more fluent one would support better the music, but above all less hesitation in releasing her energy, I’m sure she has much to give.
"Their River" is a great song, showing their THE MISSION (UK) or, I would add, ROSETTA STONE influences, but they’re not copying something already done and the band could be recognized for various personal elements. "Leaves", "A New Dawn", "Close To Me", and I could continue mentioning all the tracks for everyone is a good song: many of them (as "A Quick Bite" and "Take Me With You") could become a hit single, with a better production and with a more pressing and energetic voice.
This is the first official work, and already reflects a mature band. I’m sure in a next future we’ll heard much about CRYSTAL ENTITY.