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Band: The Spiritual Bat
Album title: Mosaic
Release date: 28 March 2014
Label: Danse Macabre Records
Tracklist:
01. Mosaic
02. Of Breath And Veils (Battlefield)
03. We Are Born We Live We Die
04. So Proud
05. Linfo
06. Hypnotic
07. If I Were A Flower (The Journey)
08. Blown Away
09. Death March
Without losing sight of the current goth picture, The Spiritual Bat sounds delightfully old-school mirrored and, at the same time, they manage to infuse the free-for-all lo-fi realm with a refreshing breath of air. The Italians have lived up again their deathrock lineage with the release of Mosaic - third full-length studio album to date - which additionally has been pervaded with a pinch of occult rock magic. Rossetta Garrì (vocals, lyrics, programming, additional percussions, synths) and Dario Passamonti (original music, guitars, bass, synths) have struck an excellent balance between the guitar-heavy, rumbling dancefloor aspects of the genre and its more ornate flourishes. Some special guests have took part in the recording, including Alessio Santoni (Ufip, Volume, Facus) on drums, and Tyves Oben (Place4Tears, Scarless Arms), Ashkelon Sain (Trance To The Sun, Soriah) and Greg Scott Cruz (Sullen Serenade, Inheirent) on some keyboard tracks.
The album is comprised of nightmarish, alchemic and psychedelic fragments, woven together by flawless guitar shimmers and distortions, as well as hauntingly chameleonic female vocals. So Mosaic seems totally apt title for this cohesive, yet enoughly varied, repertoire. Thus, tunes like the eponymous track or "We Are Born We Live We Die" will be your best choice if you're seeking for a distinctly goth adrenaline rush. Moody bass thrums coupled with sinous, scathing riffs, tribal drums propelling and Rossetta commanding the structures through her punkish conjurations while the keyboards spread veiled hints of Eastern. Furthermore, you can lose yourself in the enchantments of titles like "So Proud", "Of Breath And Veils (Battlefield)" or "Blown Away" which, relatively speaking, positions the duo directly one step below long-running acts such as Christian Death and Faith And The Muse. Certainly, this kind of tragically profound and charming soundscapes is affordible by only a few bands nowadays. The singer by herself just adds a disarmingly emotional complexity to the compositions. Whether she's performing like possessed by an evil spirit or wailing off in the distance, her voice is soaring, unnerving, and even seductive, with a touch of weird persuasiveness. Although the ritual should not work without Passamonti's precise counterpoints - at times choruses - on strings, inducing simultaneously to anxiety and reverie. No less impressive - albeit drowning deeper into murky waters - there are "Death March", with exciting proto-doom reminiscences on the driving riffs and drum thuds, "Hypnotic", an hallucinogenic succession of silky and spherical passages that leaves a subtle 70's aftertaste, "If I Were A Flower (The Journey)", with mournful melodies causing an occasional rapture, and "Linfo", which seems perfect sonic embodiment of a witches' coven.
Nine tracks in total, all of them providing a powerful sense of mystique and occult. Indeed Mosaic gives a clear statement of how to remap the Goth genoma without compromising its original DNA.
Review written by: Billyphobia (Virus G)
Rating: 9/10
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