After Rosa Crux and Syrian it was the turn of Bloody Mary, a gothic metal band that has recently been much talked about, thanks partly to the many concerts it played in various parts of Italy during the winter just past. I had already had the chance to see them live, and their performance had not convinced me very much, either musically or in terms of the attitude of the various members on stage, and in particular of the singer Aldebran.
First of all, the problem lies in the kind of music the band plays, which has often been compared with that of the Finns Him: in reality I find BM less "romantic" than Ville Valo & co., and their sound nothing particularly original. At times it takes on dark hues and there is almost an approach to more extreme genres such as black or death, which are referred to on many occasions (for example when the "brutal" voice is used...).
Every now and then the singer lets out a few shrieks in full Dani Filth style (I am talking about the vocalist of Cradle of Filth, of course!) and above all has the attitude of an almost seasoned rock star, which in my opinion ill suits such a young and, all things considered, still fairly inexperienced band. Probably their intention is precisely to show themselves masters of the stage and sure of themselves, but for now I would say they are far from achieving this result; indeed, their attitude is rather annoying and far too exaggerated for my taste.
During the Milanese band's show the audience's warmth was certainly not lacking: it was decidedly larger than at the previous concert and above all more involved, partly because it was largely made up of people who already knew the band very well. Worth noting that this time too, as at the first time I had seen them, Bloody Mary appeared with a carefully crafted look, with plenty of PVC garments, buckles, zips, see-through tops and much more.
From this point of view the band was decidedly "in tune" with the setting and with the image of most of the Transilvania's regulars, while musically I would say they were a special case within the festival, being the only metal band on the bill.
Their set ended in a rather unusual way, however, since, contrary to the agreements made with the organisers, Aldebran and company insisted on playing an encore: the response was immediate, though - halfway through the last song one of the club's DJs put on one of the songs from his own set list!! The result was a truly unusual "overlap", which nonetheless did not stop the Milanese from finishing their song (although I imagine they never expected a reaction of this kind, which was, moreover, entirely justified and owed to the other bands playing at the Dark Day).
First published in Italian; in English here.