Year zero as a redefinition of their goals, better focused on a formula that allows them to play on equal terms in a market where anyone can compete, free of ties and rules. It is not easy to present yourself as a gothic-metal band without risking a slide down a slope that inexorably leads to massification, to confusion. It takes personality and determination (how many times have I written that?), and courage too.
Anno zero digs deep: the goth atmospheres à la HIM/The 69 Eyes ("Chase the nowhere", "Judith") are still there, but Zeromancer and Deathstars can be identified as authoritative travelling companions. In a hypothetical present/future over which nuclear apocalypse looms, the days are convulsive - the same days the music business is going through. And so, yes, big orchestral ballads like "Did you let me down" are needed, but there are other cards that have to be laid on the table.
A trilogy comes to a close (the one begun with the unripe "Blood'n'roll" of 2005 and continued with "Party music for graveyards" in '10), spread over barely a decade, but interesting room for development can be glimpsed. Anno zero certainly holds its own next to far more glittering productions, with singer Aldebaran leading with a firm hand a band that knows how to present itself with ease, whether adding to its electro apparatus or putting more emphasis on the rock component - even within the limited space of two songs - without the overall consistency of the record faltering, and for that they deserve credit.
Renewing themselves without distorting themselves: BM have managed it, and may they keep going this way.
First published in Italian; in English here. Where it appeared ↗