DAWN OF A DARK AGE - Transumanza

DAWN OF A DARK AGE

Album: Transumanza

Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal

Release Date: December 8th, 2023

Country: Italy

Label: My Kingdom Music

Band Links: BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / TWITTER

Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Sabelli already joined the ranks of my reviews with his Avangarde Jazzgrind project A.M.E.N. in summer, and now offers another fascinating release under the moniker DAWN OF A DARK AGE, which is stylistically rooted more into Atmospheric Black Metal with strong Folk and Avantgarde influences. “Transumanza” is their third album, and again sees a long list of guest musicians with diverse instruments, as there are euphonium, trombone, bagpipes, and violin among others. 

The core of his compositions is rather harsh in its sound because of the Black Metal elements, but the classical instrumentation builds a beautiful contrast, so do the female clean vocals to the rough, spoken words. What makes the difference for me is again the maestro’s clarinet that gets me every time, as his tone and playing are just mesmerizing, and shine even brighter because of the rough counterparts. Not always an easy, but an interesting listen, and if you don’t mind to get through some experimental parts, you’ll be rewarded by the beauty in there. 

Written by Katha (originally for The Progspace)

Track-List: 

1. La Scasata

2. Transumante

3. Preghiera Pagana (dell’Abbandono)

4. Il Gran Tratturo Magno

5. Cantico tra Cielo e Mar

6. I Regi Tratturi

7. Preghiera Pagana (del Ritorno)