Label : Lunatic Asylum Records/Massacre Records
Reviews By Tony Cannella and Danny Robertson
Italy’s Mandragora Scream have been playing their dark and sinister brand of gothic metal since as far back as 1997. In 2001 the band issued their sadly underrated debut “Fairy Tales from Hell’s Caves”. Now eight years later the band have released their 4th full-length titled “Volturna” via Massacre Records.The atmospheric opening intro “Lui”, sets things up with a dark and evil vibe, before “I’m Goin’ Alone” comes in with it’s eerie keyboard parts and the vocals of Morgan Lacroix come in. This is a pretty cool track that sets a definite atmosphere and a great guitar riff, that runs pretty much through the course of the song. “The Circus” begins with some piano before quickly evolving into an infectious 4-minute track that is undoubtedly one of the highlights on “Volturna”.The consistency of this release continues on other standout cuts, such as: “Deceiver”, “Blindness”, “Killin’ Game” and “A Chance from Him”. The CD also includes a goth-ed out cover of the Cher song “Bang Bang” which was a huge surprise and you have to give the band credit for choosing to cover a song that is not an obvious choice. “Volturna” features 15-songs and about 60-minutes of dark and brooding Gothic metal of the highest caliber. The songs that Mandragora Scream present are quite varied and a worthy addition to the ever expanding catalog of this excellent Italian band.
Rating – 80/100
Mandragora Scream present “Volturna”, their fourth album and the first to feature the new line-up, with Max River and Furyo joining on bass and drums respectively. If you can imagine what Within Temptation might sound like had they been inspired more by horror literature, and featured Spanish and more classical influences, you’d have something very similar to this. Stand-out tracks include “A Chance for Him”, and potential club dancefloor-filler, “The Seagull’s Creed”. The two covers featured on this album, Cher’s “Bang Bang” and Visage’s pop classic “Fade to Grey”, are almost unrecognisible, especially the former, as the band have opted to re-work both songs in their own unique style rather than copy what’s already been done before. The production on this album offers little to complain about, with a crystal-clear sound – often a rarity in an age where too many bands are offering little more than distorted chuggy riffs. If you’re into gothic rock acts but prefer bands who like to experiment, this album may just be for you. This might appeal to fans of Lordi, Dommin, Ram-Zet, and vampiric themes/literature.
Rating – 65/100
Tracklist
- Lui
- I’m Goin’ Alone
- The Circus
- Deceiver
- Breakin’ Down
- Killin’ Game
- Blindness
- Farewell
- A Chance from Him
- The Revenant’s Eternal Love
- The Callin’ from Isaiah
- Bang Bang (Cover)
- The Seagull’s Creed
- Fade to Grey (Cover)
- Nails
Line Up
- Morgan Lacroix – Vocals
- Terry Horn – Guitar, Keys, Programming
- Max River – Bass
- Furyo – Drums
Links