Acts Of Tragedy
Left With Nothing

The tricolor metal and alternative scene has now reached such levels that it has (almost) nothing left to envy from renowned scenes like the American and British ones, for example. To remind us, besides the well-known and trendy names, are many newcomers, like the Sardinians Acts Of Tragedy (who are not exactly newcomers, as they have been around since 2012) and this new album “Left With Nothing.” Their offering has evolved over time, moving from being devoted to more traditional metalcore to high-impact math-core sounds that often embrace groove metal and distorted tones to the limit. As can be easily inferred from the two singles currently in rotation (“Under The Stone” and “The Man Of The Crowd Pt.I”), the band has focused everything on frontal impact, through in-your-face vocals and an energetic sound strengthened by excellent rhythmic work through continuous time changes. The album takes the form of a concept linked to the drama of how vices and addictions lead humans to drift, a theme that is in some ways difficult to describe and often leads to misleading conclusions, which does not happen here thanks to the choice not to overemphasize personal judgments. Certainly, a work that is not immediate and that starts to do its duty only after a few listens, a fairly common aspect given the high percentage of particulars placed in each math-oriented song. The only note that I partly appreciated is the sound processing, done by Jay Maas (for those who do not know him, a former member of Defeater as well as their producer and already working with Bane, Somos, and many others) and, in my opinion, far too clean. Rougher sounds would perhaps have given even more of that "wild" sensation so dear to records of this kind. Nevertheless, nothing to complain about: “Left With Nothing” is an excellent product, distinguished, among other things, by a stunning graphic concept by Mirkow Gatsow.