CHIMICA

This is the fourth studio album by this Italian band. Admittedly, I didn't give this album as many spins as I should have but this was just due to the utter dislike I felt when I listened to it. After hearing the at least average debut album Principium (***) I was really caught with a surprise when I heard this one. The band sounds totally different in this album and not in a good way. This is more like industrial metal than progressive music. I do not consider this album really that progressive at all but some others might disagree with me. Long compositions are not enough. From what I have gathered the real downfall of this band started with this album.

This album was the first one without keyboardist Mauro Olivo. This can be clearly heard in the sound, as I believe he was the best part of this band. To my knowledge, the guitarist Alessandro Seravelle has always been the leader of Garden Wall but the departure of Mauro Olivo clearly shows that he had a huge influence in the band's sound. Seravelle himself used to have some nice melodies but here his playing is just horrible.

I can only imagine that this album is for people who enjoy weird progressive metal with an industrial techno vibe. It could be that I didn't get the true meaning of this album so I recommend this to them.

Conclusion: I find this album just plain awful. Avoid!