Cyrax 2013
Reflections
Band from Milan flexing their battle-hungry muscle and get on top of the game.
Given the quotient of words “power” and “fight” on this ensemble’s debut, one would easily assume there’s a heroic metal action going on. It is – yet it’s humorous to the exhilarating extent, and deliberately so. Here’s why what begins with “Doom Against True Hell” that throws the listener onto a heavy, if electronics-tinctured, battlefield, wraps up with “Feel The Essence Of Blues,” where another power, one of music, is praised in a gospel-tinged manner. Both extremes have a common denominator, though: choral refrains in which female voices blend with Marco Cantoni’s vocals to up the spirituality of it all.
The results of it sometimes border on hysterical, as in “My Kingdom For A Horse” – yes, Shakespearian theatricality boils in the cauldron of Antonio Rubuano and Paolo Musazzi’s guitar web, as the passionate carnival and moody cello-and-piano in “The Moor Of Venice” confirm – but that’s clearly the plan, too. This assault is gracefully counterbalanced with the romanticism of “Last Call” or a magnificent Renaissance thread shooting through “Fight” which houses the full rage of Paolo Biocchi’s drums, and with a folk motif behind the instrumental “Thunderlight” whose FX-filled riffs spill into an almost-dance groove.
While others’ glory lies in grandiosity, CYRAX stop their sway just in time for their album to be enjoyable throughout. Quite a reflection of one’s desires.
****
