VULNERA

"Vulnera", the second full length album by Mysteria Noctis, was released in 2020 with a renewed line up featuring Alberto Negretti (vocals), Alessio Negretti (guitars), Giacomo Piccinini (drums), Gioele D'Adda (bass) and Mattia Di Lorenzo (keyboards) plus the guest vocalists Eleonora Ferrari, Vittorio Iannaco and KDone. It confirms the departure from the decidedly black metal sound of the debut work offering a music style difficult to pigeonhole. Throughout the album you can find metal passages alternating with melodic sections and a prog rock veined with touches of electronic music and classical influences. The music and lyrics try to reflect anxiety and restlessness: in fact, according to the band, the protagonist of this work is "the man, caught in an intimate and at times desperate search for himself who inevitably clashes with his fragility and helplessness"...

The opener "Am I Here?" refers to the art cover and evokes bees all around and inside the head of the protagonist. It's a piece expressing a strong sense of bewilderment... Then it's the turn of "Thoughts", a piece that expresses an inner search that remains unsatisfied. Next comes the nightmarish "A Supplication", a long, complex track where the protagonist is on his knees in front of a jury, put on a hopeless trial leading him to the death penalty...

On "Ultimo canto" (Last singing) the rhythm slackens and the vocals turn from English to Italian. It's a touching ballad about love and death featuring a guest female vocalist who duets with the band's singer. The music and lyrics conjure up a spectral atmosphere as the protagonist answers the irresistible call of the Grim Reaper without fear...

On the following "Night Light" the rhythm rises again bringing demons and fears for an infernal ride into the night. This song is sung in English while for the next one, the melodic "Nell'anima" (In the soul), the band chose again their mother language to express the heat of an inner fire that burns inside the soul and makes the protagonist look up at the sky to overcome a sense of obscure, thundering solitude and uneasiness...

The last track, "Red Sea", is the most ambitious of the album and the most accomplished of the lot. According to the band, this composition was inspired by the classical form of the sonata and features some guest vocalists. Eventually it brings a pinch of optimism and some rays of light after the previous dark atmospheres. The journey comes to an end as the protagonist wakes up under a new sun...

On the whole, an interesting work that deserves a try.