CREATURA

Correcting what someone wrote in another review: this is not the first album since 2003 but the first STUDIO album, as there was the remarkable Live inbetween. Anyway, people having followed this band as long as I did may have felt the chill on their back when they heard a new studio album was now released! And the higher the expectations, the higher the risk to fall and get hurt. I must admit the effect on me was like a bucket of cold water falling on my body! I guess this album will not be much remembered in a near future. Everything seems to fall apart or be awkwardly agenced; no English translations of the lyrics and singing or recitation DOES take a relatively important place here; if not enough, the album is supposed to be conceptual, good luck to find what concept! It is divided in four parts: West, North, East, South (very original never used thought!). Cardinal points according to WHAT? A room, a place, a city, a region, a country, a continent, the entire world? Nothing in the music points at any cue that could help you to differentiate the parts; and when the transition from one piece to another seems at time to be the fate of random, you don't know any longer where you are heading! This album lacks cruelly of a direction and no matter how good the musicians play, you can't but ask yourself: what's the meaning? There are a few spots where things get really hot, first of all a fantastic violin solo on track 7 (Goromba) but After Crying one more time destroy any continuity by interspercing those small individual solo miniatures; cello's turn, then classical piano's turn, then solo trumpet and so on. And at the end, you've been through good parts, very good at times, making no difference at all at other, making you feel looking at a piece of towel half torn in small bribes. And it hurts! Because we have been waiting since 2003 and the motivation behind the release of this new album seems questionable. Is there a future for After Crying? Is it time to call it a day? Well they called this one Creatura. What kind of creature is this then? A mutant or a ghost? I am very close to give it a two stars but because the playing is unfaulty, I litterally stick to the words of a three stars: Good, but non-essential.