Band : Figure Of Six

Album title : Aion

Label : Locomotive

Distributor : Rock Inc. - Bertus

Release date : 18/04/2008

Release : CD

In late 2005, I was fortunate enough to receive this Italian (they hail from the Romagna province situated on the East coast of Northern Italy, roughly between the in-land Bologna, and San Marino and Ravenna by the coast) outfit's debut full-length Step One (issued through British label Casket Music/ Copro on the 24 th of October) for review (posted the 30 th of same month, and still available for your fact-finding needs). An album which shot into my "Best Albums Of 2005"-lists upon the very first listening session. Indeed, the bands exhilerating mix of melodic yet brutal guitar complexity enhanced with a further dosis of complex electronics made me love that album increasingly with each listening I gave it! Some of the songs on that album were given airplay on the BBC , and even on Bruce Dickinson 's Saturday evening radio show. The video for the track "Go Away" was submitted to all relevant music tv channels, and it was eventually broadcast on MTV (Holland) and Rock TV (Italy), to name but the most important ones. September 2006 saw the band do a 10-gig promotional tour of the UK, a tour during which they shared stages with the likes of Panic Cell , Vert , Atomic Ants , Psylence , and Losing Sun (not surprisingly all Copro acts at that time) and raised some serious hell during their shows in Milton Keynes, Manchester, and London.

We're now 2 ½ years further in time (as compared to when I got acquainted with the crazy mob from Italy), and what was originally a septet now is a sextet through the loss of their scratch artist DJ Aent (aka Simone Bocchini ). Not so long ago the six of 'em returned to the studio with producer Ricardo Pasini (who'd already recorded Step One , and has since recorded stuff with Slowmotion Apocalypse and Ethel Duath , to name but a few). Renowned Danish producer Tue Madsen then took care of the mixing and mastering. No need to tell you that the sound simply bursts out of the speakers. About that sound...where the debut could, for generalisation purposes, have been categorised as "Electronic Nu-Metal" (due to the down-tuned guitars, you know), that sound is now much more into a direction of modern Metalcore. Not surprising, since the band doés have a Hardcore history!

Here's a bit of good advice to those among you who'd already come in contact with the band thanks to their debut: don't be put off with the sparce electronics in the album opening songs "The Man With The Book And The Gun" and "Warshow" , where you'll get atmospherical keyboard fillings rather than the weird but catchy synth sounds more generally displayed on the debut. Don't worry, beginning the latter part of third song "Ten Years Alone" , you wíll find the inclusion of some synth sounds, which even increase on the ensuing "Akeldame (Bloody Field)" ...well, the track being as brutal as it is, and atmospherics being in use as well, you still get a fair 50/50 atmospherics and synths, which is reasonably comparable to old standards. Follows the great instrumental "Dark Side 5" (the first 4 of which were found on the debut) with a somewhat calmer sound overall, the keyboards having a piano sound for the most part. A true return to old-style sounds comes in the latter part of the album, starting with the opening of the overal brutal "Morning Star" (more of the same throughout passages within same song, alternating against/ in accordance with the more brutal moments). But it's the ensuing "The Hanged Man" and ""Pull The Trigger" which will give you the band in it's most "vintage" sound mode with all the electronical trimmings to boot. The band close the nearly 44 minutes long album with the almost 7-minute "Hands Of Aion" . Well, actually it's a song with a length of 4:50 which, after some 7 or 8 seconds of silence, is followed by an additional short instrumental with fadings intensities and increased electronics. Simply gréat! Which is something you'll also say when having heard the album in its whole a couple of times.

Of course, for the time being, you'll have to be contant with listening to the two songs (album opener "The Man With the Book..." and "Morning Star" - see above for what's to be expected) posted at myspace.com/figureofsix...oh cool, here I go checking out things again at the last minute, and it transpires that, besides the aforementioned posted songs and the videos (live "Morning Star" and "Warshow ", plus a slapstick kinda featurette of the band signing the deal with Locomotive in January of last) which were already there, they've now added new versions of the same songs, and added "Akeldama (Bloody Field)" for your audio pleasure. "Album Of The Year" material for those who're into this scene, boys and girls!!!

98/100

Tony.