DUNWICH

Named after a Medieval coastal English village that was submerged in a series of violent thunderstorms in the 13th century, DUNWICH interprets the anguished unheard cries of those who perished along with their homes. With a crystalline production, orchestral styled arrangements, folkish melodies, and tortured yet harmonious vocals, "Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte" conjures the Gothic atmospheres of DEAD CAN DANCE meet RENAISSANCE. If you have ever heard the minor track "Like the Wind" from "The Eye of Wendor" by MANDALABAND, much of this album embodies the mood of that unique off kilter arrangement. The ethereal nature does not recall many classic RPI bands, and I think the well incorporated inspiration hails mostly from the British Isles, with perhaps a nod to the operatic tradition.

Intriguing to be sure, "Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte" doesn't offer captivating enough compositions to match its maturity in other areas. Distinguished moments are scattered about, but they generally fail to anchor the 3 minute pieces in which they reside, let alone build a unified framework for 44 minutes. Still, this is worth investigating for fans of the archaic, and has piqued enough of my own curiosity to consider their other offerings.

Thanks to Ivan Melgar for this suggestion. A lot of really good music--the medieval parts/influences being my favorites. I guess I'm discovering something about my prog tastes: I seem to like the groups who incorporate old and acoustic instruments and arts (e.g. operatic singing, symphonic structures, chamber strings and troubadour insturments) and I really enjoy good female voice--and boy does DUNWICH have one in Katya Sanna! While the metal/heavy prog elements of this album are not my favorite, there are more than enough of the softer, subtler, more 'medieval' and pastoral/folk sections and themes to make up for these. While not a masterpiece, this is great music--music that continues growing on me with each listen. Ivan mentions MIRANDA SEX GARDEN-- which went on to become one of my favorite bands from the Naughties, MEDIAEVAL BAEBES (especially with "Yatima" [8/10] and "La nuova rugiada" [7/10]), while I find myself also reminded of DARGAARD, CLAIRE HAMMILL, LOREENA MCKENNITT ("La rivalsa di Aki-Gahuk" [8/10]), and ADIEMUS/MIRIAM STOCKLEY as well as EPICA, WITHIN TEMPTATION, and NIGHTWISH. I love the ROY BUCHANAN-like electric guitar work and vocal variety on "Il viaggio di Wesahaycah." (8/10)

Five star songs: "Storia di Ono," "La pietre de Dunwich," "Izanami e Izanagi," "Epilogo,"

Four star songs: "Il viaggio di Wesahaycah," "Yatima," "La nuova rugiada," "Solo por sognare," "La rivalsa de Aki-Gahuk," "il samurai della primavera."

Not a masterpiece but close; definitely an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially one that appreciates the integration of older 'medieval' instruments and themes and beautiful clear female vocals.

A delightful mixture of genres and styles

A couple of months ago I found two DUNWICH albums on my favorite music store (A Prog fan in his late 50's who has a small stand on a third rate mall , but has the most unexpected material available or gets it for you in less than a week) two DUNWICH albums "Il Chiarore Surge Due Volte" and "Heilagmanoth".

Being that I knew the band was listed in RPI and because this guy sold them very cheap, got them expecting a band in the vein of PFM or BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, probably good but most likely derivative, but thanks God I was wrong, DUNWICH is a box of surprises.

The already reviewed "Il Chiarore Surge Due Volte" is a Folk album with a clear Medieval - Renaissance atmosphere ,while "Heilagmanoth" is some sort of Gothic (Understood as the late Medieval Era, not as the cheesy Victorian revival) project melted with Industrial and Heavy Rock, somehow close to MIRANDA SEX GARDEN, with a touch of IRON MADEN and DEAD CAN DANCE but much more pompous.

Even before playing the music we can notice a huge difference, the band is no longer a trio but a quartet and the only original member remaining is Claudio Nigris, this really pissed me, because the most notable feature of the band was the outstanding voice of Katya Sanna, but again was surprised, because Francesca Elayne Naccarelli is at least as good as the original vocalist, the difference is that her range is a bit lower and with more capacity for the Heavy sections.

"Heilagmanoth" is opened by the weird "Aranmanoth", a 1:35 minutes intro full of haunting sounds, prayers and some sort of Gregorian Chants in the background, from the start we know this album is different to all the previous, and prepares us for the magnificent "La Casa dell' Alchimista", one of the most spectacular and ever changing songs I heard in years. As a fact we can listen extremely mysterious Gothic secular female vocals blended with male choirs, Baroque keyboards, a strong Industrial edge and of course pompous Symphonic Metal, wonderful piece of art, would make a fantastic soundtrack for a Dino de Laurentis film.

"Tales of the Ninth Wave" is a Celtic oriented ballad with a strong attitude, while Francesca and the flute create a delicate atmosphere, the keyboards, bass and percussion takes us into Metallic territory with Gregorian choirs, not as versatile as "La Casa..", but still very good.

The next song is "The Guardian of the Treshold", one of the most beautiful tracks of the album in which the voice of Francesca blends perfectly with a guitar in the vein of IRON MAIDEN (but softer) and precise drumming by Luca Iovieno who works as a human metronome, a nice contrast with the pompous and brilliant "Il Falso Principio", a song where Claudio Nigris is the star, playing one of the most varied and solid keyboard performances I heard in a long time.

"Beowulf" starts full of weird sounds until an organ solo takes us to the Baroque era while the vocals and choirs make an outstanding work leading the band towards a very heavy section that sounds almost as Symphonic Metal, incredibly, the song seems to continue in the following track "The Flying Fear" that adds the Metal elements with Medieval overtones creating an interesting counterbalance between opposite atmospheres. The rest is a fantastic mix of styles, genres and influences with heavy passages full of guitars in clear opposition with violins, flutes and mysterious voices, a path that is continued in the next two songs "Leaves on the Altars to the Moon" and "Terra di Ambra Neve e Fuoco Nero".

By the moment when we reach "La Lama il Ghiaccio e il Fuoco", the metallic element is the preeminent and the album is some sort of SYMPHONY X with operatic vocals, as if DUNWICH had already ended a ´progressive metamorphosis from XV Century toubadoresque music to Prog Metal, a fantastic voyage through five centuries of musical history done in fifty minutes. The last track "Heilagmanoth" is just a mysterious epilog created to finish the album in the same mood that started.

Already rated "Il Chiarore Surge Due Volte" with four stars, and being that "Heilagmanoth" is superior (Yes I love pompous music), leaves me no other alternative than giving five solid stars in this case.

Fantastic Folk album lost in RPI

I'm not a fan of creating national based genres but the RPI team has made a nice work adding rare bands that otherwise would be ignored that has fulfilled it's purpose, the only problem I find is that sometimes a band that shouldn't be in RPI get's added to this category (As most likely happens in every sub-genre).

The case of DUNWICH is a clear example of this problem, their music is clearly Medieval Folk Prog with a few Metal references that has nothing in common with most bands in RPI, but that's not DUNWICH'S fault so lets talk about "Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte" which is a fantastic album despite the category which it is placed.

The second release of DUNWICH begins with "Ouverture", a beautiful violin and later flute dominated instrumental with a Medieval - Renaissance feeling, a good introduction of what we can expect of the album, something that is more evident after listening "Storia di Ono" that situates us in the Medieval era with the beautiful vocals by Katya Sanna who adds a mysterious touch that increments the beauty of the music.

"La Pietre de Dunwich" continues in the same path, but this time the Folk - "troubadoresque" feeling is blended with a religious facet plus a nice and pompous orchestration, somehow like a mixture of pagan-religious music, extremely beautiful.

"L'Incontro" as the name indicates is the encounter of two worlds, the mysterious Medieval music represented by Katya Sanna that melts with a Heavy almost metallic sound represented by the heavy guitar and male vocals that seem like a combination of IRON MAIDEN and MIRANDA SEX GARDEN with a magnificent keyboard performance by Claudio Nigris, simply delightful.

"Il Viaggio di Wesahaycah" blew my preconceptions about the band, being that I never expected an absolutely experimental track with PINK FLOYD Space Rock reminiscences and a guitar "a la Gilmour", but keeping the Medieval atmosphere alive with the vocals of Katya, extremely rewarding but disconcerting, specially because the religious closing section collisions with the next track "Yetima", that takes us back to the Folk pastoral music. As the album advances I like it more.

To continue with the surprises, the following track "La Nuova Rugiada" sounds like a polyphonic Renaissance Madrigal with lute (really performed with acoustic guitar) that again contrasts with melancholic harp and vocals ballad " Izanami e Izanagi "in wich Katya Sanna demonstrates her versatility.

"Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte" is closed by two dissimilar tracks, the mysterious "La Rivalsa di Aki-Gahuk" absoluteletely reminiscent of MIRANDA SEX GARDEN with an Industrial edge and the delightful instrumental "Epilog", both different in style but comparable in quality.

Uninformed listeners who expect a classic Italian Symphonic band will be disappointed, but fans of Medieval Folk music will love this rare gem, in my opinion deserves no less than four stars.

An album I have been struggling with for a while. Thankfully, this is Dunwich's debut album. That means there is excuses we can use. For example Dunwich being young and inexperienced.

Dunwich is listed in the Rock Progressivo Italiano genre. But on this album, there is very little which reminds me about Rock Progressivo Italiano. Sul Monte e il Tuono is a Goth Metal album through and through, with a lot of chamber orchestra and classical music added into the mix. The music is based on the female soprano Katya Sanna's vocals.

The problem with this album is that there is far too much of her and not enough music. Dunwich has done the classic mistake on this album and overplayed their strongest card; Katya Sanna. With such a talent in your ranks, the point is to use her right and not to machine gun the soundscape with her overpowering vocals. The result is painful and almost bordering to avant-garde metal. And I do not think that was the intention here. This album is also sadly lacking any good songs too. The result is an album I would rather forget. Two stars for the efforts and the talents. Nuff said and onwards to better things.

2 stars

DUNWICH are an Italian band who feature both male and female vocals in Italian. They offer up a variety of styles including Classical, Gothic, Symphonic, Metal and Celtic. And while this is interesting it just doesn't work for me. I was remined of DEAD CAN DANCE a few times as well with the atmosphere and ethreal female vocals. Check out the long list of performers though, with celtic harp, hurdy-gurdy, cello and several violinists etc.

The album opens with some narration and atmosphere before we get to "Il Largo E Salito Al Cielo". It opens with this gothic sounding male choir before the guitar cries out. Drums and a full sound follow with female vocals. Male vocals and horns take over then themes are repeated. "Passaggio A Saint Briavc" has this nice heavy intro as female vocals join in. I like the guitar 3 1/2 minutes to almost the end of this song. "Il Nostro Incanto" is catchy and lighter with female vocals. Gothic male vocals take over and contrasts continue. Not a fan. "Il Vento Di Aran" is led by strings early then these ethreal female vocals come in. Not a fan of this one either although it's much better when the drums and guitar take over around 2 minutes.

"Il Vento Di Aran (Reprise)" features the strings and female vocals of the previous track. "Alcheringa" has this catchy beat with female vocals. Guitar after 2 minutes and violin late. Not a fan. "Preparazione Al Mono" has these Power-Metal-like drums that come in while the guitar rips it up late. "La Veglia Degle Angeli" features female vocals and heaviness. I like the chunky bass here. Male and female vocal melodies after 3 minutes. "L'Avorio Di Trene" opens with strings as female vocal melodies join in. The tempo picks up. Not a fan. "Il Bosco Sacro" is drum and female vocal led. Guitar before 2 minutes. In the conclusion we can hear the wind blowing as she sings slowly.

Unfortunately there's more here that I dislike than like. It's probably worth checking out if your into NIGHTWISH or DEAD CAN DANCE although this is a different animal than those two.

I was quite mislead with the band's profile and the comparison with the great "Renaissance". IMHHO, this has nothing to do with it. This album is quite bizarre. After an almost "Eternal Eclipse?" (title of their previous album released in 99), the band comes band with a totally new line-up (but one).

The music is still dark and at times it sounds folkish, or classical ,or heavy, or metal or gothic. Nothing too close from what I prefer to be honest. In their previous album, I compared their music to "Nightwish". The same feeling prevails for "Tales From The Ninth Wave". Very nice fluting though. "Beowulf" is pretty close as well.

My fave track is "La Casa Dell' Alchimista". A poignant song which mixes some of the influences I mentioned above. Still, I don't like very much the signing style of Francesca Naccarelli here. She has a beautiful voice but creates some excesses which aren't necessary. In this respect, the song which is the closest to the great Italian symph I like so much is the remarkable "Guardians Of The Treshold". The delicacy of the acoustic parts, the flute and the wonderful vocal harmonies are a very good moment, for sure.

After all, this is their best effort so far (but this was not a daunting task to release). Even if some parts of the album are pompous and somewhat metal oriented, it is compensated with fine and delicate instrumental passages of which the flute (of course!) conveys such a nice piece of emotion.

Their classical approach is felt during the first part of "Il Falso Principio"; after a while it turns into an orgy of vocals / choir that could lead you to drunkenness?Strange song indeed. Their earlier folkish style can be shared again while you listen to "The Flying Fear" or "Terra di Ambra Neve e Fuoco Nero". Some good Celtic flavour (quite strange from an Italian band, though). Very much "Iona" oriented.

This album combines several musical genres (but very little of the Italian one). From medieval atmospheres to heavy metal. Quite a programme!

Three stars.

Since every album sung in Italian belongs now to the RPI genre (hopefully elephants can't sing) this "Dunwich" album (third in their career) can be quite misleading for the ones who are expecting the passion and drama from the masters of Italian symph. But I already made this comment with some of their earlier releases.

Is it sufficient to performs some thirty seconds of a very guitar break while closing "Passagio?"? I don't think so. This album sounds heavier than their prior two ones (which were rather folk oriented). This is particularly true while listening to "Il Nostro Incanto" which is just a hard approach with little tact to tell the truth (even if the same comment than for "Passagio" is also confirmed (I mean a great guitar finale).

Some prog metal a la "Nightwish" are even available during the average reprise of "Il Vento Di Aran". You might have understood that this is not my favourite album of all times. There are tens of gems from the genuine Italian genre before you should bear this one. Actually, there is no real need to be addicted to this one.

Some fine and folkish moods are still available (but very scarce) like during the very good "Preparazione Al Trono" but overall the metal lines are gaining territories (and I'm not quite found of these): "La Veglia Degli Angeli"".

I guess that this album could please any of the "Nightwish" fans from this site. As far as I 'm concerned, two stars is the rating. Can't consider this as a good album. And I tried hard...

RPI?

A whole bulk of bands have been thrown in this category by now. At least, with the Italian symph category, one could expect what he was going to listen to.

Now, the casual (and not only) fan who is looking for references on PA will find this band under the melting pot umbrella of "RPI". And might be disappointed (or not, it depends). Actually, this band should be featured in the prog folk genre.

The instruments that are used, the type of vocals (excellent during "Le Pierre Di Dunwich") are totally relating to some medieval and ancient times, totally belonging to the prog folk description.

I prefer this album than their previous one. "Il Chiarore?" offers some diversified music (even upbeat for "L' Incontro") and excellent musicianship. Some songs though really sound mellow ("Viaggio Di Wesakaycak") and could have been skipped from this offering.

Some Eastern feel can be smelt with "Yetima" but frankly this one is a poor track: one could have imagined a bit more depth, but it won't be reached. I would understand that true lovers of the medieval style should like this album.

It offers sufficient facets, fine female vocals ("Izanami E Izanagi") and great musicianship. Only song writing is a bit of a left down. Few moments of exception, little expression. There are some atmospheric and nice ambient parts available like "Rivalsa Di Aki-Gahuk" but these are too scarce to rate this work higher than two stars. Finally it's the same verdict as their debut.

The music held in here is quite special. Nothing to do with the classic symphonic Italian great music.

"Sul Monte E Il Tuono" features a few of these great items but the overall mood is more a combination of folkish styles, dark ambient partitions and heavy atmospheres. This album is more of a "concept" item which would only features one track of forty five minutes. There are hardly any break between each song , nor any theme change.

The music that can be found here is not too bad but frankly, don't expect too much from this offering. Female vocals are not always a guarantee of grandiose songs... At least, it is the impression that I have while I am listening to this album.

Few emotions, little fragrance, no grandeur at all IMHHO. The whole of this work is plagued with a bunch of weak vocals and average instrumental parts. It is hard to find a true and faithful track that could hold the flag a little higher.

In all, this album is a mix of some good organ play combined with poor vocals. Harmony, passion, feeling are alien to this work. You only need to listen to "Scela" or " Lo Sciamano Di Sackalin" to get it confirmed.

This work is quite difficult to depict, but I tried as hard as I could. You shouldn't bother with this release, for sure. Two stars is a maximum rating for this "Dunwich" debut.