Band:	In Tormentata Quiete
Album:	Teatroelementale
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	October 12, 2009
A review by:	Bas

01. Discorso Sul Teatro Drammatico
02. L'Alchimista
03. Monologo
04. La Danza Del Fuoco
05. Monologo
06. Il Pianto Della Terra
07. Monologo
08. Dell'Uomo E Del Vento
09. Monologo
10. Il Canto Del Mare
11. Monologo
12. Le Illusioni Del Vento
13. Monologo
14. Del Mare Alla Luna
15. Epilogo

Nowadays it often seems like the only way of making original music is by just throwing a bunch of different genres together. Of course this is quite a risk. Sometimes the result is brilliant as in the case of Diablo Swing Orchestras debut, however in many cases the music will just sound random, jumpy, hard to digest and lukewarm at best.

Teatroelementale is somewhere in between. Although by no means an absolutely mind-blowing masterpiece, it's definitely a very interesting listen. On their second album In Tormentata Quiete (which I think means something along the lines of "in agonizing silence") mix Italian neo-folk, acoustic music, melodic black metal and elements of gothic on a progressive metal backdrop. A saxophone adds a jazzy layer to a couple of tracks.

Although the tracklist might seem like quite a mouthful on first glance, only seven of the 15 tracks are actually songs. Separating them are, beside an in- and outro, six interludes; monologues surrounded by acoustic musical settings. Like the rest of the lyrics, these monologues are all in Italian, so apart from a few random words my very limited grasp of Italian can filter out (like "pasta"), I have no clue what Teatroelementale is about.

Vocal work is comprised of full-out black metal screaming, clean female vocals and, the most common, clean male vocals. Although the clean male singing is the most important part of the vocals, conveying many different emotions throughout the album, they are also the part of the music that's hardest to stomach. I can easily imagine many potential listeners being turned off only because they don't like the main singers' voice. Personally I still consider it the weakest part of the music, even though I got used to it by now.

While not that easy to get into, Teatroelementale is extremely rich in variation, spanning many types of music, both melodic and extreme. Probably the album will be too schizophrenic for some; others won't like it because of their dislike for specific elements used in the music. Most will probably pass this off as an interesting attempt but nothing more, however In Tormentata Quiete will - with all certainty - also be able to gather a lot of fans worshipping this disc as a piece of pure art.