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Although I am fond
of the Italian doom metal bands, I
am a little bit sceptic when it comes
to Italian progressive metal acts.
My previous experiences with Italian
progressive metal bands, with the
exception of Time Machine (first era)
were not the best. Dynamic Lights
have managed to alter a little bit
my opinion. "Shape" is the
second official release in the career
of the five Italian musicians. It
is a release that is more emotion-oriented
instead of skills-oriented. Now, you
may wonder what do I mean with these
terms. The band doesn't focus on the
powerful and frenzy exposition of
their skills, but they prefer to keep
a low-tuned, melancholic profile of
their music. Although I dislike interrelating
modern bands together, "Shape"
leaves me with no other choice. The
prominent influences of the band are
Pain of Salvation and Wolverine, while
it is also "flourished"
with some influences from Time Machine
and Queensryche ("Promised Land"
era). The principal feature of Dynamic
Lights' music is a bittersweet atmosphere
that many progressive metal bands
seem to embrace nowadays. The major
part of the orchestration passes through
the piano and occasionally though
acoustic guitars, giving a sensuous
and "nocturnal" flavour
in the music. I must note that their
music is very mature and "holistic".
At the level of conceptualization
and execution it doesn't lack anything
at all. As for the negative points
I would like to express my two reservations.
The first one deals with the identity
of the band. I think that they should
develop a little more their own mark
onto their music, instead of adopting
influences from modern bands (no matter
how gifted may be). The second is
that a small portion of power wouldn't
hurt anybody.
Despite the fact
that Giovanni Bedetti (piano/keyboards)
is the main responsible for the distinctive
sound of the band, I would like to
stay at the pluralistic vocals of
Matteo Infante who has a very warm
voice (sometimes he slightly reminded
me of Mick Hucknall of Simply Red).
As for the rest members I can only
say that they are very skilled musicians,
who perform precisely and passionate
at the same time.
The aesthetic of
the band is a plus, while the production
is absolutely perfect. As concluding
remarks I would like to say that personally
I enjoyed "Shape" (especially
"Between two parallels",
"Going to nowhere" and "Big
Show") and I would like to see
the further steps of the band. I am
sure that, if more bands like Dynamic
Lights come from Italy, then I will
another reason to admire the Italian
culture apart from AC Milan, my beloved
Fiat Stilo and Monica Belucci.
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