Band: RELEASE THE BLACKNESS
Country: Italy
Title: Tragedy
Label: Cult of Parthenope
Year: 2020
Style: Progressive Death Metal

Review:
Hmm, interesting new band from Italy coming to us through Uk based label Cult of Parthenope that proves they not focusing only on Black Metal, but they tend to cover a larger territory of Extreme Metal. Release the Blackness are around since 2015 and in 2017 they have debuted with a 6 track EP, which was followed by the deal signing and release of this debut album, a 10 tracks material. Quite a bold move from the band is featuring 3 of the 10 tracks as instrumental compositions, and I believe it was done for a good purpose and the result is excellent: the first and last are an intro and an outro, old-school technique that proved successful time and time again, and the third such instrumental track is somehow right at the time things might get redundant, their musical brutality might get monotone, and this one saves things at the right time. maybe that's just my impression, but it seems the band has calculated in depth every passage of this album, not to mention every track, to a point it keeps things interesting and captivating from start to finish by offering plenty of surprises and unexpected moments, plenty of tension build-up passages, and even elements that might seem too experimental. The music on this album might be generically labelled as Progressive Death Metal, but there's plenty of influences from other styles, and the overall impression is of a very modern, fresh, calculated album that has full potential of hitting its target. The band sounds curdled, confident, commanding, and that transmits to the listener. Excellent debut, one that needs at least a full spin to get into but once you get it, it will convince you for sure.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10

Contact:
facebook.com/releasetheblackness
cultofparthenope.com