When you relate to music on a worldwide scale, there are the obvious places that stand out. Anyone who’s anyone will know about the Bay Area, San Francisco (METALLCIA, MACHINE HEAD etc.)…the massive Scandinavian alternative scene that’s blossomed over the last decade, and also, recently, the middle-east has emerged as one of the most promising underground heavy scenes of the modern era, but some places just don’t seem to have that “scene”. Take Italy for example…everybody’s heard of LACUNA COIL, lots of people are familiar with DOPE STARS INC. but, other than that, there doesn’t seem to be any other Italian band that’s even remotely famous…well one band who doesn’t care about all of that, are ARTEMIXIA COR. Formed in the town of Marsala on the isle of Sicily, they’ve combined a mixture of post-grunge, metal and doom and unleashed their newest album; “As God Intended”…a confident claim indeed.
The album starts off with “This Song For You”, a riff-heavy, classic sounding piece of metal, the guitars are bold and played with passion, and vocally, front man Antony Mannone delivers a performance not unlike Phil Anselmo in places, just not as deep, but it has that rugged character to it. “Cores” keeps the metal coming in abundance with a driving bass-line and more riff’s, it’s an early album highlight, with a cheeky little solo too courtesy of Guiseppe Di Giorgi.
First single “Riding This Wave” starts off rather mellow in tone with some melodic acoustic guitar and incorporates some much softer vocals, but the shift in tempo isn’t a bad thing, showing the Italian trio are more than capable of mixing it up creatively. It’s slightly bluesy and is an enjoyable listen. “The End Of Line” starts off similarly in tempo, a slow burner, has a mad moment just past the two minute mark, then settles back down again, a bit of a yoyo of a track, before we finish up on “A Chip On My Shoulder”. We’re back to the heavy vocals for this one, and despite its slow, drawn out intro, turns into a pleasantly climatic barrage.
As a whole, ArtemiXia Cor are a decent unit; they clearly love what they do and show passion for the heritage of the genre and “As God Intended” is proof of that. Granted they could benefit from a little polishing off here and there, tweaking a few things and smoothing things out, but there’s substance to this album which indicates a lot of potential. [5]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ArtemiXiA-Cor/239688582844819
The album starts off with “This Song For You”, a riff-heavy, classic sounding piece of metal, the guitars are bold and played with passion, and vocally, front man Antony Mannone delivers a performance not unlike Phil Anselmo in places, just not as deep, but it has that rugged character to it. “Cores” keeps the metal coming in abundance with a driving bass-line and more riff’s, it’s an early album highlight, with a cheeky little solo too courtesy of Guiseppe Di Giorgi.
First single “Riding This Wave” starts off rather mellow in tone with some melodic acoustic guitar and incorporates some much softer vocals, but the shift in tempo isn’t a bad thing, showing the Italian trio are more than capable of mixing it up creatively. It’s slightly bluesy and is an enjoyable listen. “The End Of Line” starts off similarly in tempo, a slow burner, has a mad moment just past the two minute mark, then settles back down again, a bit of a yoyo of a track, before we finish up on “A Chip On My Shoulder”. We’re back to the heavy vocals for this one, and despite its slow, drawn out intro, turns into a pleasantly climatic barrage.
As a whole, ArtemiXia Cor are a decent unit; they clearly love what they do and show passion for the heritage of the genre and “As God Intended” is proof of that. Granted they could benefit from a little polishing off here and there, tweaking a few things and smoothing things out, but there’s substance to this album which indicates a lot of potential. [5]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ArtemiXiA-Cor/239688582844819
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