SinHeresy – Domino
CD Info
2017
Scarlet Records
10 tracks
English lyrics
8.5/10
There is so much metal coming out of Italy it’s hard to keep on top of, really. And I follow so many Italian bands that I personally have a hard time keeping up with them all! But it’s a labour of love, so I am happy to do it. One band I have been a fan of for a really long time has been Trieste’s SinHeresy, a six-piece symphonic metal ourfit that have been on the top of my favourites list for years. With two singers, Cecilia Petrini and Stefano Sain, this group produces some of the best quality music of the genre, in my opinion, and has to be my favourite Italian band by a long shot.
With two previous releases, the EP The Spiders and the Butterfly (2011) and Paint the World (2013) still get regular spinnings at my place and were stand-out CDs that firmly established SinHeresy as a highly talented group with many things going for them, not the least of which was a penchant for amazing album art. But this is a CD review and not an album art review. I just had to throw that in there, though, because I do like a great piece of album art.
The new CD from SinHeresy, Domino, is the band’s second full-length and it dropped April 7, 2017, garnering all kinds of critical praise, and really, I am only going to add my voice to the choir that is already singing this band’s praises. Though it has a couple of downsides, which I’ll get to later in this review, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Domino and thought that SinHeresy has come up with a very worthy follow-up to Paint the World, which was an excellent album. It has all the elements I’ve come to expect from the band: fast-paced, head-bangable and very heavy tunes, great vocal performances by both singers, and solid songwriting and compositions.
This CD is a bit darker than Paint the World. If you check the cover out, you’ll see some big otherworldly robot types playing a game of dominoes in what looks like a city with a big explosion happening in the background. That should clue you in. The title track, “Domino”, starts off with the eerie wail of a siren combined with some explosions, setting up an atmosphere of fear and alarm and perhaps even doom. “Domino” the song is good, fast power metal. A voice comes on during the song warning people of a national emergency and advising people to leave their homes immediately. The tempo of the music slows down but becomes more bombastic, driving the point home to the listener. We also hear a newer element to SinHeresy’s sound and that is the use of choirs in the background. This adds to the music’s complexity and atmosphere. Luckily, they are not overused, either, so they are not dependent on them for overall effect.
This is in general a more fast-paced album than previous ones, which I really liked – it lent a sense of urgency to the experience, which I think was well played given the darker aspect. I also think this was a much heavier album than Paint the World, too. There is so much great head banging material in here.
Tracks that stood out to me on the album were “My Only Faith”, which is one of the catchier songs on the album, and brings Cecilia’s vocals to the forefront, and I really enjoy her voice; “Unspoken Words”, which exemplifies the greater heaviness I was referring to earlier; and I particularly enjoyed “Island of Salt and Grass” which starts off all ballady and then turns fast and heavy half way through.
As I mentioned, there were some things in Domino that were missing for me. For one thing, SinHeresy in previous albums was very good at creating great hooks and catchy choruses, and I found this album, though it had some moments, was in general lacking in them – at least to the degree to which I had become accustomed to from this band. I really missed that.
The other thing I really missed and that I thought SinHeresy was always superb at was the power ballad. There is no power ballad on this CD! There are some softer, gentler moments, as in the first sections of “Island of Salt and Grass” and in the closing track, “…Another Life”, which features lovely acoustic guitars and a sensitive and emotional Cecilia alone at the helm. So there is some calm among the storm, but no real power ballad, and I was kinda looking forward to hearing one from them because this band rocks at them.
So although there were a couple of aspects of Domino that were disappointing for me, I did enjoy this album overall. I was not so disappointed that it ruined the album at all in any way. It is a solidly written and produced release that I think a lot of fans of this genre will enjoy. If you haven’t heard SinHeresy’s music before, definitely give them a try. Domino is a great place to start.
