Essenza: Blind Gods And Revolutions

You have to take your hat off to SG Records as they support a myriad of Rock and Metal acts of all varieties from their home country of Italy. Not all of the bands hit the mark, but then that's not to say that some don't do enough to entertain and merit some praise as they do so. And that's exactly where Essenza come in, Blind Gods And Revolutions being the band's fourth album where a touch of Power Metal infuses a Thrashy approach to straight up Metal.

That may sound like a compromise of styles from a band that don't really know where their headed, but to Essenza's credit, it all comes together to make a cohesive album which stands up to repeat listens reasonably well. Their main weapon is the guitar playing of Carlo G. Rizzello, who while far from blazing a new trail in fancy fret trickery, does do a good job of keeping the riffs rolling and the solos scything. His bassing brother Alessandro S. Rizzello keeps pace admirably and together they hammer out a sound not a million miles removed from a less dramatic Iced Earth or mid paced Judas Priest. Although there's no denying that it would all benefit from having a more dynamic or powerful vocalist to really get this band's message across; the brothers seemingly sharing singing duties across the album. What really doesn't help though is a lacklustre drum sound, where that horrible cardboard box being beaten with a wooden spoon "thwock", which blights so many low budget releases, sucks a fair percentage of the energy that drummer Paolo Colazzo obviously possesses, right out of this album.

In the end, the likes of the full throttle "The Fury Of The Ancient Witch", or more blatantly Bay Area inspired "Bloody Spring" are good fun and reasonably well presented, even if they're hardly likely to set the world on fire. However with the adventurous, if not completely convincing in its time signature changes and arrangement, "Plastic God (An Autumn Dream)", showing a little ambition (even if it is an odd choice to open proceedings) and "Seagull In The Night" and its classically inspired guitar feel proving that this band have much more about them than initially meets the eye, it's hard to be too disparaging about Essenza.

Blind Gods And Revolutions will never be viewed as a classic of its type, or anything likely to break out of the "safe as it gets" Metal mould. However as a short eight track diversion it does its job reasonably well and I can certainly see myself revisiting it from time to time - but probably any not more regularly than that.

Track Listing
1. Plastic God (An Autumn Dream)
2. Bloody Spring
3. The Song Inside
4. The fury of the Ancient Witch
5. Lost and Blind
6. Fight for Change
7. Seagulls in the Night
8. Time (Keep My Memories Alive)

Added: September 8th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Essenza online
Hits: 1939
Language: english

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