Erase
May I Sin?

I start my adventure here at DeBaser with a review of a brand new album and an equally brand new band...

The band:

Erase was formed in Alessandria in 2008, from the meeting of 5 young musicians coming from different musical experiences: brutal-death, trash metal, and a softer pop-rock. Without betraying each one's background, but instead making it available to the group as cultural baggage to work on, they develop an entirely original project in the Italian metal scene and beyond, making it difficult to place them in this or that category (alleluja!)

After releasing an EP in 2009 and the departure of a guitarist, the first album titled "May I Sin" was released a few months ago with the final line-up:

Daniele Boccardi: vocals

David Boniolo: guitars

Luigi Poggio: bass

Marco Lombini: drums and electronics

"May I Sin?" is undoubtedly the first, important building block of Erase's entirely original project: theirs, in fact, although it's an aggressive metal, bold, sometimes desperate, never disregards melody, in fact, it is certainly a strong point: the progressions that sometimes lean towards deathcore, sometimes towards metalcore are not "assembled to the melodic parts, but seem to miraculously arise from them; and this creates variations and movements within the same track that are quite surprising, thanks above all to Daniele's versatile voice and his remarkable interpretative abilities.

The track list:

"Ashes And Sinners" is a perfect opener not only because of its reference to the album title but also because it introduces what we will hear track by track: clean sound, essential electronics, clear harmonizations, and important, if not leading, rhythm sections: bass and drums create and dissolve the harmonic lines without hesitation with guitars and vocals in tow.

"Another Day" has an engaging text with strong images that transform at the end almost into a furious prayer, excellently interpreted by Daniele, melodic and gritty.

"No More Life" surely has the meanest guitar of the album, supporting a violent and angry text; the track starts off strong and then slows down in a decidedly unsettling manner.

"I Can't Believe In Nothing" has a beautiful, incisive, touching text, always interpreted very compellingly; the melody is one of the catchiest, stays in your head for a while, also due to its more rock-oriented connotation compared to the other tracks.

"My Mirror" is a relentless contrast between guitars and rhythms that reveals the musicians' technical skills...a lot of stuff...

"Ripped Inside" is a jackhammer, they all go at it without a break, the guitars are hypnotic and even the melodic part has the same suffocating cadence of Marco's drums that give no respite from start to finish...not by chance it's the only track that fades out...that is, it doesn't end...

"Lover" is definitely the most exquisite track of this album, featuring continuous changes of time and rhythms that surprise and convince: the Erase project certainly gives its best here.

"Demons" brings us back to the melodic vein enriched by discrete but effective electronics that bring modernity without altering the intent. Here too, a catchy riff.

"Always Faithfull" is also a track with variations in rhythms and here, also in intensity, but compared to other tracks, here innovative intuitions are in abundance: David's guitar and the choirs alternating and overlapping with the scream make this song the sweetest of the album, thanks again to Daniele's voice that really does everything!

"My Own Creed" closes the album and is almost a liberating track where the 4 guys go wild and hit hard, accelerating and pressing like crazy with truly superb drumming.

The only flaw of this album, in my opinion, is that it lacks tracks that are not necessarily slow (although I would be curious to hear a ballad from Erase!), but that allow you to catch your breath and make the track list dynamic as it happens in the individual pieces. Otherwise, I think we need to trust this band that attempts to step out of the chorus and schemes and on more than one occasion succeeds greatly. I am convinced that they can dare more if they continue to develop the intuitions and ideas of this album, after all, not doing so would be a crime against music, because they have all the numbers!

Nina.