Band:
Davide Cicalese [Pagan] (Voices)
Stefano Centineo [Ste] (Guitar and Backing Vocals)
Luca Rossi [Oldhan] (Guitar)
Fabio Gatto [Fabio] (Bass)*
Elisabetta Rossi [Becky] (Celtic Harp)
Laura Brancorsini [Laura] (Violin)
Paolo Cattaneo [Paolo] (Tin Whistle, Bouzouki) *
Simone Sgarella [Simo] (Drums)
*-does not appear on the album
Diskography:
Debut
Info
Maurizio Cardullo [Merogaisus] (Tin Whistle, Bouzouki, Bagpipe) on the album
Marco Brambilla [Mac] (Bass) on the album
Released 29/7-2011
Reviewed 20/8-2011
Links:
furorgallico.it
myspace
youtube
massacre
Speaking of people with complete delusions, Rhapsody that is, has nothing to do with this album however. The music of Furor Gallico can be described as folk metal, meaning that they incorporate elements of folk music in their metal music. That is of course a very simplified way of describing it as there is much more to it, there are for instance elements of extreme metal in there, the band have an extensive use of whistles, harp, violin and so on, they utilise the instrument of bagpipe and more. As you might understand by mentioning these things, the band also has a violinist in the band and a harp player to name some odd bandmembers in a metal band, they are quite complex in their music as they are also incorperated elements of the more extreme metal as well as some progressive elements and therefore it is really difficult to give an accurate testimony of how the band sounds but I think you catch the general idea though. The vocals are mostly in the darker style with some female backgrounds and such, the production for such music needs to be really carefully made with attention to make the styles merge into one. I think that the band succeeds rather well in this regard and manages to make all these different elements merge into a unified sound that can be described as folk metal if we simplify things. I think the sound is clean enough not be considered amateurish and still rough enough to be considered quite heavy and rough, it is a balancing act they master quite well these italians. The album consist of thirteen tracks and it will take fifty eight minutes to play all thirteen in a row.
So, are they any good then? well, yes they are. It feels as though they paint a landscape of mystery and imaginations and they do that rather well, the music and songs are good and there is a good depth in the music and the layers merge together quite well throughout the album as well. The sound is good, refined and interesting, the complexity they have mastered into making a rather simple sounding album is also something I like very much.
Now then, there is a however attached to the above paragraph. I think that this album is very long and that is an opinion I have despite the fact that the two songs I like the best on this album are the ones that end it. Also the fact that the end is really good giving a good parting feeling one could say. The feeling is though while you listen that they should have murdered some more darlings in order to make this album a tad more intense and compact as it is now all I am doing for half the album is wait for the last two songs as I am a bit bored before those get on. Then there is the problem with the vocals, it just feels like they use too much extreme vocals and I really think they should look into that as it just sound wrong in a few instances.
I also think that you should take the less good things for what they are, it is not things that prevent this album from being a good album and then looking at the songs. The penultimate song called Banshee is a really good song with lots of emotion and energy I would say and the final song The Glorious Dawn is a song that ends the album in a very good way.
In the ends I think this is a good album, it is a debut album as well with some great music despite the singer being a bit too growly at times and despite the lack of murdered darlings. A shorter album with more vocal variations would be on my wish list for an upcoming release but I can still enjoy Furor Gallico until then, at least the great ending (which was not the case in this review).
HHHHHHH
