Country: Italy
Year: 2015
Tracklist:
1. Life Is Pregnant of Death
2. The Art of Bleeding
3. Evil (in Her Hands)
4. Falling Snow
5. Trembling Hands
6. Geisha for My Demons
7. Invisible Again
8. Reflections
9. Rain of Stars
10. I Am Candle
11. In a Cobalt Ocean
12. Death Is Pregnant of Life
The Gothic and Death Metal genres are some of the oldest Metal subgenres, and thus, they are very worn. In fact, it's hard to find something truly innovative in any composition, almost everything is already done and written. But what’s really disturbing is the lack of good ideas in new releases. That's why this debut work from ideogram deserves special mention. It’s not truly original, but it’s truly exceptional.
In this work, the melodic style, can be attributed to Gothic Metal rather than to Melodic Death Metal. It would be forced to say that there is a Melodic Death Metal here, at least in a predominant way. Just a few riffs can be attributed to that genre. Some riffs also are taken from the black genre. Above all, the title “Life Mimics Theatre” is just right to describe what to expect from Ideogram’s music style: a musical theatre play, by a metal band. The style deserves well the title of “Avant-Garde”.
The sound is above standards, without been superb. Sometimes the instruments tend to overleap each other but it’s nothing too significant. In general, every sound has its own band and the right volume, so it’s easy to hear every one separately paying at the same time. The kick sounds deep and defined enough, the voices always clear and guitars powerful when they must. The audio fits the musical style perfectly and that’s what matters.
The album has 12 tracks. One of them is a short intro and another a coda, so only 10 of those are full songs. It’s an ok length for a LP, but because of the superb song quality you will of course want more. The intro and outro tracks aren’t superfluous at all. They seem almost necessary for a work almost operatic and classic like this one.
The song structure is to be praised. There is no rigid AABA scheme and every song feels like a complete piece, with an intro, development and conclusion. The bridges are awesome most of the time. As said before, it's more like an opera than a pop music work.
The composition is the best element present in this work. The number of voices is big. Just to make it easy, here is a list:
- Clean male vocals
- Clean female vocals
- High pitched harsh male vocals
- Low pitches harsh male vocals
Besides, every voice is used in different ways throughout the album. Sometimes singing, others talking, screaming or growling. It's just rich.
The use of different instruments makes everything even more interesting. Again, a small list:
- Classic instruments, like piano, flutes, strings, harpsichord, accordion, etc.
- Modern instruments, like guitars, bass, etc.
- Electronic instruments or synths.
These elements alone are nothing if the composition itself isn't right, and, in this album, of course it is. As said before, the music style (Gothic Death Metal) isn't completely new but it seems very mature and solid. It's complex, varied, entertaining, original and beautiful, everything one may want from a musical piece.
Some pieces are better than others, but the gap is not too big. Every song differentiates enough from the others and the whole album has a beginning and an end.
In sum, this debut album is a delight and only makes you want for more.
