Band:	Ravenscry
Album:	The Attraction Of Opposites
Style:	Alternative metal, Gothic metal
Release date:	May 2014

01. Luxury Of A Distraction
02. The Witness
03. Missing Words
04. Alive
05. The Big Trick
06. Touching The Rain
07. Cynic
08. Living Today
09. Third Millennium Man
10. Noir Desire
11. Ink
12. Your Way
13. ReaLies

Ravenscry's second full-length takes everything from their debut, improves on it, experiments even more, and offers thirteen songs of absorbing, introverted melodies that have had me returning to the album for months now. The Attraction Of Opposites is not just one of the most compelling, solid releases of the year for me, but one that delves into societal darkness, overcoming or accepting personal pain, and takes itself seriously from beginning to end. Riffs are heavy and tightly wound, consistently emphasizing inner tension, and the vocal lines are strong and unique, and will leave you scouring over the lyrics for days, only to raise your head satisfied and impressed.

The album kicks in and within a mere thirty seconds tells you straight out what will be the heart of Ravenscry's sound: alternative metal with thick and pulsing seven string guitars paired with a six string bass, layered with efficient and hard-hitting drums, and surrounded with vocals that are the foundation of intricate hooks and melodies. The production is superb, and with the album being recorded in the band's own studio and subsequently mixed and mastered at Bohus Sound Studio, The Attraction Of Opposites stands as a model for how to release an album of high caliber on your own terms.

The band led with a video track for "Missing Words," and it is easy to see why. It's instantly accessible, builds a bridge from the previous album to this one, and emotionally expresses a spirit of bruised arms and hands wide open, ready to show the pain and embrace the listener with introspective longing for release. Giulia Stefani's voice soars in obscure shades above the music as she sings "because now I know, now I hear you, now I know...!" that will leave you breathless trying to sing along to. And just at all the right moments, the band injects dramatic arrangements beneath her, as if they have discovered the way to ground air itself just long enough to let the listener hold onto it.

The band ups the tempo with "The Big Trick," delivering some assertive riffs courtesy of guitarists Mauro Paganelli and Paul Raimondi atop of Simon Carminati's appropriately driven percussion. Giulia's opening verse is as cloaked in intricacy as the song's subject matter of the use of vaccines can be, and is matched like a mirror by the song-ending solo by Mauro that's straightforward and resolute. "Noir Desire" slows it all down later on, lets the rain pour with a haze of cigarettes beneath streetlights, and lets the bottom end of bassist Andrea ("Fagio") Fagiuoli act like the footsteps on the pavement. With the dark and brooding riffs that fittingly embody the mind of the murderous stalker Giulia sings of, the soundtrack to a vicious noir film has been set.

Best of all, not only does Ravenscry delve headstrong into expanding on their already personal style, the experiments are simply surprising, and, after a few listens, could not have been better. One of my favorite tracks, "Living Today," not only features some jazzy drumming, dramatic arrangements that demand attention to the "seize the day" subject, and, wait...is that a really cool trumpet and trombone solo? Yes. And timed just right, as I was in need of a smile to think outside of the serious mindset now halfway through! As the album draws to a close, and the foreboding sense a writer faces and the future legacy of the written word seems as fragile as ever in "Ink," Ravenscry finish on a strong gust of somber inspiration in "ReaLies." With the timeless words of Morpheus, "All I'm offering is the truth, nothing more," to lead it off, Giulia's vocals feel like the tears one wipes away with a tightened fist as the internal battle to change one's self has begun. An impassioned guitar solo, the atmospherics of violins and the cello, and, after nearly an hour of deliberately pointed subjects and music that felt like my mind had swallowed a beautifully frozen stone, suddenly there is release, and, hope. Like opposing forces, it is the pain that makes finding the truth within so exciting, and fulfilling.

The Attraction Of Opposites takes us through heavy-hearted emotion without forgetting the warm touch of a hand upon our own. Delicate even at the most powerful moments, wrapped in a production that allows every moment a chance to breathe, Ravenscry have released a thoroughly poignant album that takes aim at our struggles, failures, and yet above all, does it with a sense of hope like the sun that peaks though the clouds as the rain finally begins to subside.