When you are out playing gigs and drifting from one recording studio to another, spitting blood and sweating the proverbial buckets, you can be sure your bones get tougher and you gain a great deal of experience. Add to that the best of intentions, and therefore ideas - good ones, too - and you cannot help doing an excellent job. That is what has happened to our own Bloody Mary, who in this writer's opinion are a solid reality of the Italian gothic scene, a point of reference that has established itself in about ten years, becoming a key band.
In the end, Aldebran and company have come to offer a sound that has become a guaranteed trademark, in the sense that if you listen to a Bloody Mary song (or to their latest record, the subject of our review), Anno Zero, you can immediately tell where the track comes from.
They have paid their dues, the efforts have been many, but in the end the result is more than satisfying, and the Milanese goth band knows it well: it can enjoy the praise and take pride in the excellent work done over some ten years of an honourable career. Anno Zero is a record of a thousand shades; the enterprising guys pull out all their talent, turning out a record that has become a reference point for lovers of the genre in Italy.
What we hold in our hands is a fresh work that blends aggression, melody and sweetness; Aldebran's sensual voice is another distinctive element - we could consider it halfway between that of HIM's Ville Valo and that of 69 Eyes' Jirky.
With Anno Zero we note, in any case, the performance of a mature band that in a sense has gone in search of a sound of its own, one able to turn into a very personal style and therefore quickly recognisable to the listener.
In a gothic rock playlist, songs like "Chase The Nowhere" or "Crawling" would stand out immediately, not to mention the sweet "Frozen", which, in my personal opinion, is the platter's undisputed signature song. While listening, it will not be hard to be carried away by the notes of "Judith", an unmistakable ballad that leaves you open-mouthed, or by the sensual "So Far Away", with just the right rhythm. Anno Zero is a record many will like; all that is left is to let yourself be swept away by Bloody Mary's seductive music.
First published in Italian; in English here. Where it appeared ↗