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TENEBRAE

Rock Progressivo Italiano • Italy


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Tenebrae biography
Genoese outfit TENEBRAE formed in 2005 on the initiative of guitarist Marco ARIZZI with the aim of producing complex narratives through a combination of sounds, texts, and visual and performance arts. The band's name comes from the Latin for ''shadows'' or ''darkness'' and their dark brand of heavy art rock is broadly comparable with the likes of MINSTREL. To date the band's career can be split into three distinct phases.

The initial stage covers their first six years of existence, from their early work on songs that would later form the full-length debut album ''Memorie Nascoste'' (2009) to the eventual split of this line-up midway through 2011. In line with the band's ambition to weave intricate tales through music their metal-tinged debut work is, according to specialist Italian blogger Andrea Parentin, ''a concept album that tells about a strange meeting between a boy and a mysterious painter'' (Italian Prog Map). The album resonates with Faustian themes - for example the boy and the painter stand for Faust and Mephistopheles respectively - where an atmosphere of dream prevails and human imagination, visions and illusions combine to blur the line between the material world and the spiritual stratum.

The second phase of the band's journey begins with the arrival of new personnel, including current vocalist Pablo FERRARESE, and culminates in the release of the sophomore ''Il Fuoco Segreto'' in 2012. This is a conceptual work fully grounded on Goethe's ''Faust'' and it can therefore be thought of as prequel to the debut album; while it is a much shorter work it eclipses the debut on other levels. The Faust motif has a prominent place in Italian progressive rock and it further strengthens the comparison to MINSTREL who also released an album based on Goethe's Übermensch, although ''Il Fuoco Segreto'' rather places TENEBRAE somewhere between the domains of RPI and Metal. The music reflects these polarities while providing an appropriate frame for the story's union of the visceral and the occult. The songs are wrought from an exchange between the power and desire of dense metallic riffs and macabre growls, and the sorcery and mystery of shadowy piano-led melodies and typically theatrical Italian vocals.

Following the subsequent break-up of the second version of the band, remaining members ARIZZI and FERRARESE are currently joined by new recruits Mattia SEVERI (bass) and Ilaria TESTA (keyboards, backing vocals) on the trail of a ne...
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TENEBRAE discography


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TENEBRAE top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.91 | 4 ratings
Memorie Nascoste
2009
4.00 | 2 ratings
Il Fuoco Segreto
2012

TENEBRAE Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

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TENEBRAE Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Il Fuoco Segreto by TENEBRAE album cover Studio Album, 2012
4.00 | 2 ratings

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Il Fuoco Segreto
Tenebrae Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by andrea
Prog Reviewer

4 stars In 2012 Tenebrae released their second album with a renewed line up featuring along with Marco Arizzi (guitars) Francesco Mancuso (keyboards, synthesizer, back vocals), Fabrizio Bisignano (bass), Alessandro "Attila" Fanelli (drums) and Pablo Ferrarese (vocals). Antonella Bruzzone helped the band to write the lyrics while Sara Aneto took charge of the artwork and of the booklet that she enriched with many nice drawings. The result of their efforts is "Il fuoco segreto " (The secret fire), a beautiful concept album inspired by Goethe's Faust.

The overall sound is heavier than in the previous work and the new vocalist showcases a great personality delivering some operatic passages, dark growling and soaring melodies. The band interpret Goethe's story freely, adding a touch of original poetical inspiration and dark, Gothic sounds with good results. Despite the changes in the line up there is a strong stylistic continuity with the previous work and maybe Mephisto is just the name of the mysterious painter we met on their previous album...

Troubled dreams, foggy memories hanging over the secret fire that burns in your soul, broken mirrors and haunting illusions take you to the limit of reality, towards a new awareness. Well, on the whole another album that is really worth listening to!

 Memorie Nascoste by TENEBRAE album cover Studio Album, 2009
3.91 | 4 ratings

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Memorie Nascoste
Tenebrae Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by andrea
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Tenebrae began life in Genoa in 2005 on the initiative of guitarist Marco Arizzi with the aim to blend rock music with other forms of art such as painting, theatre and literature. After an EP in 2008, in 2010 they self produced an interesting debut album, 'Memorie nascoste' (Hidden memories), with a line up featuring Marco Arizzi (guitars), Fabrizio Garofalo (bass), Fabio Bignone (keyboards, synthesizer), Emanuele Benenti (drums) and Davide Faudella (vocals).

'Memorie nascoste' is a concept album that tells about a strange meeting between a boy and a mysterious painter. The atmosphere swings between dream and nightmare, a hypnotic hourglass blurs the borders between time and space while the power emanating from the tableaux in an art gallery stirs hidden memories, then ghostly visions begin to dance among games of mirrors and dark shadows. The overall sound of the band reminds me in some way of another Italian band called Minstrel. Their approach is theatrical and emphatic while the music draws from heavy metal, opera, new wave, psychedelia and many other sources of inspiration... A very interesting rock opera!

Thanks to seventhsojourn for the artist addition.

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