My Refuge
A Matter of Supremacy
Bakerteam Records
2015
Upon listening the opening bars of “A Storm is Coming” from Milan’s My Refuge I must say that I was quite impressed with these Italians, even if it made me jog my memory, in case I’ve heard a variation of it, some other place. Even their singer, wasn’t too bad, if not mixed a little too high for my liking for a guy that tends to often exclaim most of the lines he sings. What was the cardinal sin however was the thin “triggered” drum sound, that might not feel too bad, in the general trebleness by makes you wonder how much fuller this would sound with a “meatier” drum sound.
They have this progressive touch with lyrical moments, which are bordering on power metal, on occasion. This is not extremely technical power metal, but rather quite powerful prog metal that doesn’t get lost up its own arse during instrumental passages. Which is a good thing I guess.
“The Cage” is more measured but still lyrical as it could be.
“Calling of the Wind” is more temperate and more melodic, with its sweeter passages, but still it’s driven by a couple of quite heavy riffs.
“Endless Night” is even more melodic and dramatic, but at this point I began feeling a bit “weary” of the approach to the songs, which was this mid-tempo, dramatic, slightly neoclassic (without the overbearing solos and arpeggios all over the place). Sure there are some very cool parts and the band’s effort is commendable, but they seem unable to economize, especially as this is their longest song to this point.
“Living in Anger” tries to fix this, by fails quite badly, as it lacks in melody and no matter how much the singer tries to compensate for it; it’s not easy to conceal that. The guitars jump out, for an extended solo, but that's about it...
“This Wall” seems to combine melody and a more varied rhythmic base, with a couple of daring ideas... and is quite better.
“The Raven” (possibly inspired by EAP) is better yet. Quicker, darker and with a lyrical style that’s not a million miles away from that of Blind Guardian, when they sound epic and slower, with the vocals lines being mostly responsible for these comparisons.
“Empty Room” maintains the melancholic, yet splendorous style and even though significantly slower and more sorrowful, isn’t negligible.
“On Wings of Wax” must be about the myth of Daedalus and Icarus and has this weird, symphonic style, that isn’t bad at all, even if it made me raise an eyebrow at times over some vocal choices. By this point their singer Davide Vella, is increasingly guilty of allowing his Italian accent creep in more and more over the course of the songs, to a point from almost non traceable, it’s quite evident, especially in slower passages. It’s not the worst, aspect of the band and if you don’t mind it, it’s not as bad, as to “condemn” his overall performance... (some over the top moments tend to stick out a bit more) and the prog facede, subsides in favor of a more power metal one. Weirdly the band choses to close the album with a rather spedinous song called “Somewhere”, that might have felt a lot more appropriate “somewhere” closer to the middle of the album in terms of pace…
A quite interesting band, that reminded me of the time when Italian bands like Labyrinth, Vision Divine, Eldrich etc., were pretty big… they still need to take care of the production etc., but they are capable of writing quite interesting compositions, so I’d definitely like to see, their progress in a couple of albums…
They have this progressive touch with lyrical moments, which are bordering on power metal, on occasion. This is not extremely technical power metal, but rather quite powerful prog metal that doesn’t get lost up its own arse during instrumental passages. Which is a good thing I guess.
“The Cage” is more measured but still lyrical as it could be.
“Calling of the Wind” is more temperate and more melodic, with its sweeter passages, but still it’s driven by a couple of quite heavy riffs.
“Endless Night” is even more melodic and dramatic, but at this point I began feeling a bit “weary” of the approach to the songs, which was this mid-tempo, dramatic, slightly neoclassic (without the overbearing solos and arpeggios all over the place). Sure there are some very cool parts and the band’s effort is commendable, but they seem unable to economize, especially as this is their longest song to this point.
“Living in Anger” tries to fix this, by fails quite badly, as it lacks in melody and no matter how much the singer tries to compensate for it; it’s not easy to conceal that. The guitars jump out, for an extended solo, but that's about it...
“This Wall” seems to combine melody and a more varied rhythmic base, with a couple of daring ideas... and is quite better.
“The Raven” (possibly inspired by EAP) is better yet. Quicker, darker and with a lyrical style that’s not a million miles away from that of Blind Guardian, when they sound epic and slower, with the vocals lines being mostly responsible for these comparisons.
“Empty Room” maintains the melancholic, yet splendorous style and even though significantly slower and more sorrowful, isn’t negligible.
“On Wings of Wax” must be about the myth of Daedalus and Icarus and has this weird, symphonic style, that isn’t bad at all, even if it made me raise an eyebrow at times over some vocal choices. By this point their singer Davide Vella, is increasingly guilty of allowing his Italian accent creep in more and more over the course of the songs, to a point from almost non traceable, it’s quite evident, especially in slower passages. It’s not the worst, aspect of the band and if you don’t mind it, it’s not as bad, as to “condemn” his overall performance... (some over the top moments tend to stick out a bit more) and the prog facede, subsides in favor of a more power metal one. Weirdly the band choses to close the album with a rather spedinous song called “Somewhere”, that might have felt a lot more appropriate “somewhere” closer to the middle of the album in terms of pace…
A quite interesting band, that reminded me of the time when Italian bands like Labyrinth, Vision Divine, Eldrich etc., were pretty big… they still need to take care of the production etc., but they are capable of writing quite interesting compositions, so I’d definitely like to see, their progress in a couple of albums…