Independent Release
Review by Tony Cannella
Black Ink is a Progressive metal band from Italy. In 2011 the band released its debut (and only, thus far) demo called “Reminiscence”. So, let’s delve into what this Italian band has to offer. “Reminiscence” is longer than your average EP at 30-minutes, and it is made up of 5-songs, four of which are over 6-minutes long. The production on “Reminiscence” is really professional sounding and I would classify this more as an EP than a demo – the sound is crystal clear. Musically, the band reminded me a bit of Dream Theater – especially with the intricate jamming they do on some songs. The opening track “Cold Soul” gets things off to a good start. Lead vocalist Laura Lerti has a clean Amy Lee style vocal approach. The music is heavy and very much riff oriented, but also technical and melodic as hell. “New Day” starts off with a short drum intro before the heavy guitars come in. The next song “Black Ink” starts off with a 70s like prog rock piano that is soon joined by the guitars and keyboards. This is a mid-tempo song that slowly builds into another heavy one, but this is also the most prog-rock like song on “Reminiscence”. The next song is the ballad “Bitter Tears”, at almost 5-minutes is the shortest song featured here. Obviously this is the most accessible song in the Black Ink repertoire and sounds tailor made for the mainstream. The final song “Confused” starts off with just pure heaviness, the song features an orgy of guitar riffs as they come at you fast and furious. This is just a massive way to end things. “Reminiscence” has some pretty cool moments backed within the 30-minutes provided here. Black Ink is different from a lot of metal coming from the great country of Italy these days which should help them stand-out in the ever growing Italian metal scene.
Rating – 89/100
Tracklist
- Cold Soul
- New Day
- Black Ink
- Bitter Tears
- Confused
Line Up
- Laura Lerti – Vocals
- Michele Podda – Guitars
- Andrea Botto – Bass
- Rocco Iacovino – Keyboards
- Giuseppe Ierace – Drums
Links
MySpace * ReverbNation * Facebook * Twitter