Stelle Senza Luce (which means something like ‘stars without light’) was the first full length by Italian trio (now a duo) Movimento D’Avanguardia Ermetico; there was a second full length in 2012 via the Italian label The Oath, as well as a couple of splits. This debut was recorded as a trio (vocalist / drummer Yog aka Yorda., guitarist Andrea ‘Ans’ Anselmo, and bassist Roberto ‘R.I.’ Iviglia; the latter left shortly after) at the Authoma Studios with assistance of mixer / master Federico Pennazzato. The latter, for your information, is known from bands like Secret Sphere, Odd Dimension, defunct Deformachine or, currently in Death SS.
The material for this album was written and composed as from 1999, so it took more than a decade to finalise the stuff. Reason? I have no idea, and I do not think it is of any importance right now.
Anyway, the album has duration of forty one minutes (the five tracks last in between four and twelve minutes). Stelle Senza Luce opens with Decade Di Isolamento E Aristocratico Discacco (which means something like ‘decade of isolation and aristocratic detachment’, if Google Translate isn’t bullying me), which starts with a slow, grim and hypnotic melody. After a short while, Decade Di Isolamento E Aristocratico Discacco gets heavier and faster, yet with the same mesmerizing and grim atmosphere in sound and performance. Despite the fierceness and high tempo, it all remains melodic and epic, with spheres in between woolliness and razor-wire-ness. This trend goes on with the other songs. Ritorno Alle Porte Dell’Essere (something like ‘return to the portals of being’, I think) too breathes a stench that holds the middle in between Nordic and Atmospheric Black Metal, with elements of Blackgaze (this terminology is gaining popularity lately ;-), Ambient Black Metal and Funeral Doom. There’s a certain sense of depression as well as aggression, equally balanced. There is some experiment in Falchi D’Acciaio Oltre La Nebbia (‘hawks of steel above the fog’) (by adding sampling or semi-acoustic strings a.o.), and in the final track (the shortest song on this album), Quando L’Onore Sfida L’Infamia (‘when honour provokes infamy’), yet with conservation of the characteristic balance melody and anger.
[note: why a review on an ‘old’ release? Actually, Kunsthauch, Dunkelkunst and 99 Screams Series, all acting under the same banner, did send us, and therefore I am truly thankful, quite some releases, both new and old; since all of them, or at least the majority, are worth being known / listened, I have no reason to not promote this excellent stuff!]