IN THE CAVE

When one of our fellow collaborators is doing a great job publishing interviews with some lesser known bands, we should take advantage of that and explore those unknown realms. While I read those reviews, I have felt interested in some bands that I didn't know previously, one of them was this Italian band called Ifsounds, whose name was previously If, but who decided to change it because there are several bands called If, and with Ifsounds they are developing their own brand.

So I read the interview and got interested, then decided to look for their music and Torodd enlighten me and told me there were some free to download albums on their website. I did not hesitate and got them. Now here is my review of their debut album entitled "In the Cave", released in 2004, featuring ten songs an almost an hour of running time.

The first song is "Syd is Back" and starts with an electronic (Nintendo-like) sound which suddenly stops and disappears. Then a soft piano and vocals appear, but all of a sudden a theatrical and heavier feeling enter, the guitar work is nice, letting you know their rockish roots, there is a great guitar solo.

The title track ("In the Cave") has some robotic and far voices, while a spacey mood appears, the same sound prevails until 2:30 where new vocals enter, some drums here and there, but after a short stop those robotic voices return. This song fails with me, because I honestly felt bored almost all the eight minutes.

"Summer Breeze" does not rise up that mood; I mean the sound is still soft and in moments boring, but the vocals sound a bit different, raw and touching, so that is a good point. Then the keyboards and new elements put some spice in the plate, which helps the song reaching a goal.

"One May Love" has some kind of bossa nova touch, cool drums and bass lines. A minute later, female backing vocals appear and the song turns delicious in moments, quite enjoyable. "Classmates" is a short but heavier song whose guitars will attract all your attention; the vocals are very rare, not the best actually.

"An Angel has Opened Wide the Door to Hell" is a soft song that suggests a moment of reflection, the sound might be simple and even poppish, but you can't deny that it was composed from the heart. There is a nice guitar solo in the last minutes. "You" is a very nice song. Those female backing vocals return accompanying a male lead one and some good keyboard sound as a background. The mood is very tranquil and even relaxing. The structure is the same all over the song, but it is not bad at all.

"19 Red Roses" is one of my favorite here due to its intriguing rockish sound which is like a combination of 70s with 80s moments. That soft mood shared in the previous songs, contrast with the sense of power provoked by this one. Pretty good track, though I don't think this is the kind of song the band wanted to adopt as representative.

"You Know" has a slice of 80s sound, it is like a ballad or a love song (what a change from the previous song). A leader female voice appears just before minute 2 but it fades out one minute later. The structure is the same, but the good thing about this is its last two minutes where a great bass sound appears, together with another nice guitar solo.

And the album finishes with "Dreams" which starts with an acoustic guitar which later is accompanied by piano, drums and vocals. The mood is like s swing and it is the same plain thing all over the song, so don't expect any change. There is a hidden track later, which sounds really odd, it is like a weird compilation of the songs included in this album.

The problem with this album is that in my opinion the band did not have a clear identity, so in moments it seems not to have a goal. But this was only the beginning, because new and better things have passed since its release, I'll tell it in my other reviews. Now, I'll give this debut album only two stars, there are some great moments, but in general I believe there are so many things to correct. Anyway?

Enjoy it!

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