|
GOTHICA: The Cliff of Suicide Release year: 2003 Format: CD Tracklist: I: Nel Buio Total Length: 43:06 min General facts: Gothica is Allessandro Santovito and Roberto del Vecchio, two musicans from the Italian east-coast hooked on creating melancholic Neoclassical music. The project has released a couple of self-financed demos and two albums on Sweden's Cruel Moon International, this one being the latest. It consists of 10 tracks + a video to the title track. Gothica is interviewed in Ortus Obscurum since before, look in the 'interviews' section Review: Already when I started writing this webzine, I felt obliged to invite this project to be featured amongst my interviews and now the time has come for me to review their second release, The Cliff of Suicide. This album generally continues in the same direction as its predecessor Night Thoughts, yet it definitely exceeds the debut in sentimentality and beauty. I had barely skimmed the surface of it before I fully realised to what extent I like this album. Along with the keyboards and voices of the authours, Gothica has also invited a couple of musicians to with violin, oboe and ocean drum etc on this album. The music performed by this project is quite melancholic, often manifested in darker medieval tinged consonance with ceremonious romantic themes. The track Deep Lakes of the Soul reminds me very much of how Dead can Dance sounded on the Yulunga from Into the Labyrinth. It definitely marks Dead can Dance's influence on Gothica. The two projects certainly share similarities - something which Alessandra and Roberto aren't afraid to confess - yet I sense that Gothica is more operatic than their predecessor and also that there is a much more mediterranean feel to Gothica's music. I Quickly recognised the sound from Gothica's past on this CD, yet I am pleased to say that a positive evolution in the muiscal skills of the two members has taken this music to even higher levels. In particular, I think Alessandras voice has surely grown a lot since Night Thoughts. Accentuated by the majestic Neo-Classical music, her celestial voice brings the solace of the shadows to tarnished souls in a most exquisite fashion. She experimented a lot with her voice on Night Thoughts, yet on The Cliff of 'Suicide, the experimentation has been taken even further with everything from passionate opera vocals, high portamentos to emotional spoken parts. Prime examples of this are found in tracks like The Monk and the melancholic title-track. Speaking of the title-track; it also appears in a remixed version as a video on this CD. It is a nice video which suits the atmosphere of the music. It basically shows Alessandra singing the lyrics in the beautiful nature surrounding of their hometown Vasto layered with pictures of the mighty Adriatic Sea. Gothica is surely one of the most promising projects from Italy in this evergrowing movement of Goth tinged Neo-Classical music. I feel that this band is sometimes overlooked, perhaps for the quite 'crude' name of the project, yet I feel that this project has great potentional in passing on and evolving a musical tradition that definitely deserves it. I can only summarize my review on The Cliff of Suicide by using the word "brilliant", because this is simply what it is in my opinion. My guess is that fans of Arcana, darker Dead can Dance, brighter Swans, Dargaard etc will find this CD appealing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Click here to visit Gothica's website - Click here to contact Gothica |
Released by: