Italian alternative crew L’Alba Di Morrigan have been stirring up interest ever since the release of their ‘Circle’ demo in 2009, and now finally they have finished their debut album. Drawing comparison with the likes of A Perfect Circle and Katatonia, there is clearly a weight of expectation that they need to live up to, yet ‘The Essence Remains’ struggles to live up to the hype.
Those expecting an aggressive, doomy assault on the senses should step away now, as the Katatonia influence in question comes from their more recent output, where to say that they had ‘phoned it in’ would be an insult to the Swedish telephone system. Quiet and reflective is the order of the day here and there’s nothing wrong with that at all if done well, generally speaking. There’s no doubt of the talent on display here really, with singer and guitarist Ugo Ballisai in very relaxing vocal form; like modern day Jonas Renske, no excess energy is expended, the result being a very warm and calming effect, especially on opening track ‘ Snowstorm’ with its light and floaty nature. The guitars are equally soothing and melodic with some nice solo flourishes. Unfortunately, it’s also deathly dull and a bizarre choice of opening track. Hope returns though for the second track, the regrettably titled ‘The Fairies Circle’, which has little more pace than the opener, but is infinitely more interesting. Both the Katatonia andA Perfect Circlecomparisons are very evident here, with the main guitar riff in particular having a very ‘Mer de Noms’ sound about it. The composition is excellent and with a rewarding chorus, this is clearly where they live up to expectations.
Things return to the easy listening end of the scale for ‘Silence’; however your attention is resurrected by ‘Lilith’ a track which reminds me partly of recent Anathema for its guitar parts, and of fellow Italians En Declin for the vocal melody. The 2 part ‘Holy Mountain’ could almost be mistaken for Katatonia, with Ugo doing a more than passable impression of Jonas Renske, and with a prominent bassline akin to the ‘Viva Emptiness’ album, this is where they are at their least original and yet most interesting. ’24 Megatons’ is a strange name for an instrumental with little impact, but I’m sure they had their reasons. The title track is rather light and fluffy and yet ponderous and special mention must go to the nasty electronic pitch shifting effect placed on Ugo’s voice here. Whilst it’s clearly intended to give something of an ethereal element to the sound, it instead comes across as intrusive and grating. Final track ‘Equilibrium’ is nearly 8 minutes of uninspiring instrumental with a sudden burst of energy in the middle which falsely builds the hope that it may actually be going somewhere.
The much lauded synth work of Katatonia collaborator Frank Default is understated, though it could be argued that it should have been more prominent to add some weight to a few of the flimsier tracks. ‘The Essence Remains’ is a difficult album to recommend, but it’s even more difficult to dismiss it completely. The standard of the musicianship and composition is first rate, and ‘Holy Mountain’ and ‘The Fairies Circle’ are both excellent tracks, but there is no escaping the final conclusion. This is, by and large, a boring album. Really didn’t want it to be, but there it is. For best effect, put this on low before going to sleep and its warm and relaxing tones will send you floating of to dreamland in no time at all.
(6.5/10, Lee Kimber)
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