After a very promising 'The Reins Of Life' which was the first Italian album of 'Degrees of Truth' (here), 2019 sees the release of 'Time Travel Artifact' with a change of guitarist since 'Andrea Boccarusso' takes the place of 'Graziano Franchetti' and allows the group to add a male voice, 'Samuele Di Nardo' replacing 'Matteo Clark' on bass. At first listen, this last opus, appears more varied and the symphonic metal tag tends towards a progressive between rock and metal: the short introduction 'Ark' puts forward the vocal duo Claudia / Andrea in a serene atmosphere reminding the melodic lines of 'Arjen Anthony Lucassen' in his project 'The Gentle Storm' (here), then, 'The Remedy' offers us an energetic title between symphonic and progressive where keyboards take an important place, 'The Void Within' continuing in this way with a very nice melodic plot and a beautiful alternation between power and softness. The central part of the album consists of a 4-part title, 'Dream', which begins with flamenco influences and the use of classical guitars and offers a real instrumental sequence in the second part of the title, then 'Long Way, Silk 'embarks us first in an exotic atmosphere then is mixed with more classical sounds with a memorable melody in an energetic tempo. The 3rd part is undoubtedly the master piece of this set with 'Lithos' and its 14 minutes that takes us into a melodic and inventive progressive saga with a chorus that remains engraved in your memory, 'Claudia Nora Pezzotta' giving us a wonderful performance and finally, 'The Post War Solace' which is a walk including an energetic and unbridled central instrumental part closes the tetralogy in a very beautiful way. The end of the album offers us a new ballad, 'Love Me, Protect Me', then 'Proximate' returns to an atmosphere close to the beginning of the album with 'The Remedy' and 'Time Travel Artifact' ends the opus with an introduction consisting of electronic effects that give way to a last melodic and energetic title with a beautiful alternation between sung and instrumental parts that summarizes well the whole. In summary, the Italians of 'Degrees of Truth' released a quality album in which they knew how to forge their own personality by mixing symphonic and progressive and 'Time Travel Artifact' is intended for a public loving the mix of rock and symphonic metal in compositions to discover little by little, listening after listening... | |
