ANNO DEMONI

This album shouldn't be listed under Jacula but Antonius Rex ! Please beware if you are ready to buy this one. I don't know why I'm attracted to gothic type music and such but it's a question of taste and there's not much I can do about it. Anyway, I was really interested in this Italian progressive group I had heard of in a positive way. I also had heard some Jacula which I found fantastic. But what a deception with this one ! I have the original album with 5 tracks. I'll try to describe what it sounds like : a lot of synth using a maximum of 5 notes, a synth sounding like a violin for the (very basic) solos and (very basic) drums, some church organ (ah, that's good you might say, but there's isn't much - stick to Yes 's Going For The One - and percussion sounding also very synthesized to me. As for the vocals, well, you get some whispering in Italian... The only interesting track is Jacula the Witch where you have the only nice melody with beautiful singing by a female voice. However, this track, like all others, is ruined by a special effect sounding like a bat, you know, the kind you get in a supermarket during Halloween ! This is totally absurd. It must be a joke ! The other seemingly interesting track is Soul Satan where you finally have a real band playing but not enough to get you interested. What is more, it sounds like a demo... All in all, stay away from this. I can"t say anything about the bonus tracks as I don't have them. If you are interested in the genre, try Devil Doll instead. By the way, this is the very first time I have used the one star rating and hope it will be the last.