After 'The Reins Of Life' in 2016 and 'Time Travel Artifact' in 2019, the Italians of 'Degrees of Truth' released a new album 'Alchemists'. With a new change of line up, 'Daniele Brianza' replacing 'Graziano Franchetti' on guitar and 'Lorenzo Corsalini' taking the place of bass player in place of 'Matteo Clark', they continue their adventure by offering us 44 minutes of metal symphonic with progressive components which appear more at the end of the album, the first half of the album presenting more direct compositions thanks in particular to melodic lines that we appropriate on the first listen.
And as often in this style of music, the Italians welcome us with an epic and symphonic instrumental, 'Imperfect Concoction', which, for once, is relatively long and presents a very beautiful crescendo and a grandiose finale with imposing choirs. Then it's time for metal with the first three titles, 'Godless Symphony', 'Over The Tide' (see the video above) and 'Fightmare' which offer us catchy melodic jewels quite direct in a radiophonic format not exceeding four minutes and which should all three work well in concert, then, 'Wreckage of Time' adds a diversity inside the title itself which starts in an energetic way and which alternates beautiful much quieter sections bringing a bit of progressive. Make way for the ballad break with 'Misconnection' in which 'Claudia Beltrame' shows a very special emotion and, in the more refined first part, the Italian's singing approaches the intonations of 'Simone Simons' from 'Epica'. Back to symphonic metal with 'Tiny Box of Horrors' which, after its introduction with disturbing sounds, unrolls a new memorable melody on which 'Claudia Beltrame' shows all her vocal talent in alternations of tempos and intensity. With 'Thread Of Life', it is certainly the most progressive title of the album which embarks us in a more complex construction with, in the second part, a remarkable instrumental passage followed by a beautiful sung acoustic section. We also find this progressive side marked in 'Bound to Rise' which moves away from symphonic metal with alternations of intensities and rhythms and which offers a magnificent guitar solo, then, to finish, the eponymous title of the album (see video here) shows a more direct and epic face with a memorable melody on which 'Claudia Beltrame' makes a beautiful vocal performance accompanied by grandiose choirs for the finale.
In summary, the Italians of 'Degrees of Truth' continue their momentum by offering us a varied album coming out of a classic symphonic metal and offering a fairly immediate accessibility while benefiting from a few touches of progressive which is intended ' Alchemists' to a fairly large audience that loves melodic metal with catchy melodies... | |
