Domina Noctis
Nocturnalight

Eight pearls of infinite beauty are the songs contained in this highly successful debut by the local Domina Noctis, a band that has been circulating in the Italian underground for a few years now, with two demo tapes to their credit.

Lulling melancholic notes transport us to nocturnal landscapes, in a dreamlike dimension that is hard to reach when listening to other bands devoted to this kind of sound. For this reason, I find it unfair that critics compare the surprising Domina Noctis to the much more well-known - but mediocre - Lacuna Coil; "Nocturnalight" is more of a reference to The Gathering during the "Nighttime Birds" period, not so much because of the female voice, but for the atmospheres and the nocturnal landscapes it manages to evoke, the class and creativity the group demonstrates to have. First of all, there are some fundamental differences: our band doesn’t use the overused alternation of male - female voice, adapting the compositions for Edera's single voice. A strong vocal timbre and great expressiveness that captivate and move without ever boring or becoming cloying.

If at first listen the comparison that seems to fit is precisely with Cristina Scabbia, after analyzing the entire work more thoroughly, one realizes that the two frontwomen are very distant, not so much in style, but in character. And it is precisely from Edera's personality that the lyrics of this work are born, a tribute to the one who is indeed the mistress of the night: the moon. A strong symbiosis with nature is what the opener "Shades of Dark and Light" manages to convey, a song that immediately highlights the good qualities of all the members and emanates a sweet autumnal melancholy, which can also be found in the other tracks. Excellent is Asher's guitar (the group's composer) and Erik's keyboards, never trite and perfectly integrated with the rest of the rhythm section that sketches now prog, now heavy, now dark passages. A rhythm section far removed from the exhausting flatness and repetitiveness that plagues many songs by the aforementioned colleagues, often authors of indigestible passages (I could cite a multitude of songs that do nothing but repeat the usual structure full of "catchy" choruses infinitely) which have the female voice as their only point of strength. One wonders if, without Cristina Scabbia, Lacuna Coil would really be worth anything.

This is a gothic album because, far from the plasticization of modern "works" of the genre, it perfectly hits the target that any band devoted to this genre should set for themselves: the ability to convey deep emotions, to create a place of escape where our mind can soar above the clouds in a solitary flight, a flight that no one would ever want to end. This "Nocturnalight" stands majestically among the thousand - useless - releases of the genre, almost placing itself on levels that only great groups like The Gathering and Theatre Of Tragedy have reached.

I am not surprised at all by the fact that critics have pinned this close comparison on them, but, certainly, this means spreading misinformation. One then wonders why Italian bands do not enjoy a good reputation…