In Tormentata Quiete - Teatroelementale - review
In Tormentata Quiete - Teatroelementale - review
Band
In Tormentata Quiete Album
Teatroelementale Style
Progressive metal Release date
October 12, 2009 Tracklist
01. Discorso Sul Teatro Drammatico02. 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
A review by
Bas October 28, 2009
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.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Bas | October 28, 2009
Comments
Comments:
8
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Posts: 141  |
Posts: 141
In tormentata quiete is an oxymoron where "tormentato" can be translated with tormented or agonizing and "quiete" means calmness or stillness. Nice Review. I agree with the concern on the clean vocals. Female vocals are now only made by a guest and are no more orchestrated with the other voices as in their previous release (i.e. no more 3 different and simultaneous vocal melodies). It's still too early to express a balanced opinion on this record for me, anyway.
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Posts: 537  |
Posts: 537
I love th music on this album, but i have to say that the male clean vocals realy bug me, just ruins the whole mood the album creates:P
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Posts: 1  |
Posts: 1
Nice review. I guess understanding the lyrics adds a lot of depth to the listening experience.. Being italian, I'd add a point to the score.
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Posts: 248  |
Posts: 248
I liked the songs on theirSpace, and I did not mind the clean male vocals, they are a bit flat, though. But my impression overall is very good.
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 Posts: 5591 |
Posts: 5591 Written by pdepmcp on 28.10.2009 at 18:07 Nice to know that I guessed pretty much right with my horribly small grasp on Italian  Let us know when you do have a balanced opinion  Written by silenius on 28.10.2009 at 23:41 Unfortunately I'll have to agree, however you get used to the clean vocals after some time Written by dissonance on 29.10.2009 at 15:05 I was already thinking the lyrics are pretty important to the album. What are they about? Written by nb on 29.10.2009 at 16:32 Yeah it's still a pretty good CD
---- BAS - Beautifully Accented Sexiness
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Posts: 702  |
Posts: 702
I love this album... musically it's fantastic and I don't mind the clean vocals at all... I must say understanding Italian helps a lot... Their website is http://intormentataquiete.com/ and not http://intormentataquiete.net/ which takes you to a page in German about some porno stuff! The actual concept behind the album is rather philosophical. I quote from their website (I'm translating it from Italian): "The eternal struggle between living and surviving is representend in a monologue between The NonMan and The Man, who are enclosed in the same simulacrum (image). What happens when the sleepy Conscience/Cognition wakes up? This is the question on which the philosophy of Teatroelementale is based". Basically it's an opus on "Man" and about "Man", a journey in which the NoMan finally becomes Man. There are many references to the Italian writer Pirandello. There are also many Italian bands who adopt a more literary/cultural approach to music, which can be seen as a bit "wanky", but it's part of the Italian musical landscape. For example, Italian doomsters Arcana Coelestia (whose name in itself is a theological opus by Swedish author Emanuel Swedenborg) have based their album "Le Mirage de L'ideal" on Strindberg's autobiographical opus "Inferno"... I could go on, but I'll spare you this time!
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Posts: 141 |
Posts: 141
Ok, after some listening I finally built up a balanced opinion. I agree with your rating. This record is somewhere between very good and brilliant. I'd probably call it brilliant if my expectations were lower...but their debut is such a great one.... This is basically 1 step forward but 2 steps back from their debut. Songs have more various influences and the sax adds a lot of pathos. Vocals are less structured than before and this is the major fault of this record, and many songs share a similar structure, which is annoying on the long run. Clean vocals are not bad, anyway. It's true that the listener can get used to them, but it's true too they are mostly pretty good. There are only 2 songs with strange melodic lines and strange rhythmical patterns that leave a strange feeling about them, but they are only 2 episodes.
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 Posts: 197 |
Posts: 197
This has nothing of melodic black!!! They are progressive gothic principally with clear folk influences. They can not be compared with any other band, for sure.
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