Fulgida Reminescenza

Italian atmospheric black metal project Blaze of Sorrow's latest EP, Fulgida Reminescenza, comes on the heels of a successful LP in the form of a set of formerly unreleased tracks that are finally seeing the light of day, plus a couple of bonus tracks. Those who are looking for a harsh black metal assault on the ears aren't going to find it here, but the beautifully produced, neofolk-influenced tracks are well worth listening to anyway. The title track is almost all quiet, clean acoustic guitar, playing a wistful air with some electric-guitar background. The next track, Trascendenza, starts with piano, reminding me of one of Goatcraft's echoing piano tracks from last year's album, but a couple of minutes into the track, the black metal riffing starts. It's a slow and stately march rather than double-kick-driven chaos, but even though it's repetitive, the tune does change -- slowly -- and it sounds good once one has listened to the whole thing through. La Danza Dell'Anima, a gentle song with acoustic guitar arpeggios supporting some quiet electric guitar, sounds quite good -- the whole production, really, is done with perfectionistic zeal -- but not as good as Acqua, a subtle blend of chorused guitars that reminded me of some of Agalloch's folkier bits. Alas, though, that never boils over into heaviness, which may turn the opinions of some metalheads against it. The final track, a cover of Death in June's But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?, pays some more explicit homage to the band's neofolk influences. It's a good solid cover, sung by the band's primary musician, Peter, in a deep, clean, and somehow breathless voice; and though, like some of the other songs, I wished occasionally that they'd added more heaviness from their metal roots, I can understand their decision to focus on the folk influences here, especially given the ambient portions they added at the end. This is by no means metal, but the production alone makes it nice to listen to, especially when in the mood for some relaxing background music that doesn't get annoying after a short time. Not really any "killing songs", but worth checking out in my opinion.