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Stormlord: Mare nostrum

28/08/08 || Euthanatos

Italian Dimmu Borgir/Cradle of Filth wannabes Stormlord made quite an impact when they released “Supreme Art of War” and also “At the Gates of Utopia” a few years later. Most thought they became repetitive and stale with “The Gorgon Cult”, and now, four years later, comes “Mare Nostrum”. I’ll be quite honest with you; I hate this kind of shit. I hate Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, and I hate even more everyone who was somehow inspired by them. It’s pretentious, boring, NOT black metal, gay as they come, futile and expendable. But, ever the professional, I will review this as simply a metal album, regardless of my personal tastes. Bare that in mind from now on, yes?

The first track, which is the title track, has some interesting guitar/keyboard effects and some remarkably embarrassing Children of Bodom backing vocals. I could have done without those. Other than that, the mood shifts, the harp innuendo, the operatic female vocals, all those elements mesh nicely. “Neon Karma” has some futuristic keyboards which interweave adequately with the aggressive vocals (which, fortunately, are nowhere near as cringe-worthy as Dani Filth’s, but are as generic as they come). I get an industrial vibe from this song, even if this wasn’t exactly their intent. “Legacy of the Snake” is such a dubious title, yes, but it has a great oriental feel to it and is probably my favorite of the bunch. Its speed and harshness appeal to me, more so than the “polished” moments. “Emet” reminded me of Borknagar for some reason, that epic blackened metal genre so hideously overloaded, but that can deliver some decent tunes. This is one of them. Afterwards comes “The Castaway”, mostly acoustic with clean vocals, somewhere between Borknagar (again) and Arcturus. Pretty cool. “Scorn” makes clear to me that I really don’t like the production on this album, particularly the drums, triggered as fuck and sounding terribly artificial. “And the Wind Shall Scream My Name” follows the same formula of fast beats, melodic riffs, epic keyboards. “Dimension Hate” picks things up in the speed department and has a tad more aggressiveness, so it’s more up my alley. A track brilliantly called “Stormlord” finishes things off with… nothing. Oh, no, wait, it just takes 30 seconds to begin, but there’s actually a song here.

I wish I could say good things about this band, because they really are top-notch performers and clearly take their time in writing their songs. I just find this style to be so stale and repetitive (much like the original black metal copycats out there… that’s right, I said it!), I can’t go any further than “nice try, won’t listen again”.

I guess if you’re a huge fan of Dani Filth and Dimmu you can give this a go. If you enjoyed Stormlord before, I think you’ll certainly dig this. But if, like me, you expect something different, look somewhere else.

The cover: Now this I like, a painting of a medieval ship suffering with furious waves. Neat-o.

5 corpse paint kits which are actually make-up kits out of 10.

Information
Released: 2008
Label: Locomotive
Website: www.stormlord.net
Band
Cristiano Borchi: vocals
Pierangelo Giglioni: guitars
Francesco Bucci: bass
“Joe” Giampaolo Caprino: guitars, keyboards
David Folchitto: drums

Tracklist
01. Mare Nostrum
02. Neon Karma
03. Legacy Of The Snake
04. Emet
05. The Castaway
06. Scorn
07. And The Wind Shall Scream My Name
08. Dimension: Hate
09. Stormlord

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