Blizaro — Cornucopia della Morte
The album opens with the four part track Nemesis. A slice of straight ahead heavy doom metal in the same vein as Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Paul Chain and most notably Candlemass. At various points throughout the album I am reminded of Messiah Marcolin's vocal style. Gallo may not have the same vocal skills as Messiah but he more than makes up for any inconsistencies with his enthusiastic delivery. He has a very likeable style and produces some of the finest epic doom riffs since the unholy trio of Iommi, Chandler and Edling first crawled from the cemetery.
The first part of Nemesis, subtitled Daughter of the Scarab opens with an Eastern flavoured keyboard riff, before the guitar crashes in at around the 30 second mark. The track is very reminiscent of classic era Candlemass at their best, however Gallo and the band bring a touch of progressive rock to the proceedings giving it a freshness and avoiding pastiche. The second part Citadel of the Lunatics follows a similar path, providing us with another slice of good progressive doom. Part 3 Interludio is a short acoustic instrumental piece reminiscent of Black Sabbath at their most mellow like Fluff, Embryo or Orchid. The final part Altered State opens with an ass kicking riff of pure doom metal, by the midpoint it has expanded into much more progressive territory and there are a few points at which I was half expecting to hear some flute action.
The rest of the album follows this much more laid back progressive approach. Giallo is an instrumental that draws its name from the Italian thriller genre of the same name. It features some really great Goblin-esque keyboard riffs and could quite easily be mistaken for Simonetti and co at their best were it not for some really heavy riffing.
Frozen Awakening is one of my favourite tracks on the album. Great psychedelic doom with more than a nod to Bobby Liebling and Pentagram. The Paul Chain classic Voyage to Hell is up next, Gallo's cover retains the spirit of the original without sounding like a pastiche. Another instrumental follows, The Staircase is a classic slice of progressive metal, showcasing Gallo's guitar playing and some great keyboard riffs.
The final track on the album , Stygian Gate, begins in classic doom metal style with a tolling bell and rolling thunder which leads us into some monolithically slow doom metal riffs. The track picks up the pace at around the 1.30 mark, heading into more familiar territory. Midway into the track it flips and Gallo reintroduces some lovely progressive keyboards. The Italian progressive influence of Goblin is back as the track heads back into more soundtracky territory, before finishing in a final flourish of doom laden guitar riffs.
The album is very enjoyable and whilst Gallo wears his influences on his sleeve he is a master craftsman and a vastly underrated songwriter, my only criticism is that the production lacks a little, and the vocals seem a little quiet at times, but this a minor thing. Gallo may well be one of the finest riff writers of recent times and effortlessly mixes classic doom metal with Italian progressive rock to create something exciting, yet familiar. Gallo has taken the lion's share of the praise in my review however I feel it necessary to heap praise on the band as a whole. A tight, high quality rhythm section are the foundation on which Gallo gets to weave his magic and without them I doubt the album could achieve its high watermark. I look forward to future projects from the band.