Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Bella Morte

Beautiful Death
Metropolis


Bella Morte has become one of the solid standing fixtures in the Gothic Rock genre as one of the new touring and writing monsters of our subculture. Creating solid hard hitting sounds that are unapologetic, at times brash and at others deeply inspirational. Their unique mix of Electronic, Goth, Deathrock, Punk and Metal makes for a bittersweet and heavy blend of tracks that entrances people from many different genres. Always attempting to adapt their style and never be stagnant, the act recently released Beautiful Death. An intriguing and deep new album that hearkens back to their more romantic and deeply traditional Gothic Rock roots.

Beautiful Death opens with the acts latest single for Metropolis records, the song "Find Forever Gone". Andy shows a softer and deeper side to his lyrical repertoire in this very slow and beautiful gothic dance track. "Can't Let this die" opens with a slow electronic rift then pulls you in for the killing rift, the more heavy sound you expect of this gritty act. "Black Seas Collide" Features heavy ripping guitar work combined with eerily dripping keyboards. Again we see the softer side of Andy's vocals in this very classic Goth rift. "Buried Within" is a harder hitting fast paced track with lightning paced synth. "The End of the Day" is a more tragic sounding solemn and moving track. "Fades like a song" is a deep emotional ballad of love lost and burying the past history. "In the Dirt" starts with a crawling Deathrock lyrical rift that explodes into a punching frenzy.

"One thousand days" is an emotionally driving track drawing images of Suicide, Alienation, and Depression. All too familiar themes but this tracks burning image of endurance against all odds is inspiring. "Burn the Sky" is another driving Gothic Rock track with heavy guitar tracks combined with hard hitting lyrics that blend an epic Gothic Rock anthem. "Eternal" is a more exploratory and experimental track with industrial synth and gritty guitar rifts. It carries a more hopeful tone than the prior tracks. "Nine Hours" opens with haunting Piano tones, a heavenly close to this very beautifully put together album.

Recent fans of Bella Morte who have been exposed to the break out album "Bleed the Grey Sky Black" might find the transition to a more romanticized traditional Goth album a hard switch. Bella Morte though shows their ability to mix their traditional gritty guitar licks with deeply written intellectual lyrics and a softer side to Andy's traditional lyrical style to create an album that crawls with the most crepuscular Goth act. The sound of "Beautiful Death" is reminiscent of early Goth acts like Play Dead or Nosferatu. However, Bella Morte retains its razor edge that has kept fans coming back for each new lick the band releases. With the act losing Gopal and Jordan earlier on, many fans felt that Bella Morte might lose some of its punch. Rest assured that the album "Beautiful Death" does not disappoint with all its romantic and creepy crawling beauty.

http://www.myspace.com/bellamorte

- Dr. Raven

1 comment:

phoenix said...

I love this album. It sounds different from earlier Bella Morte, more lyrical and evolved. The songs flow beautifully into each other.

Definitely worth having!