Kirlian Camera
Nightglory

It's known that Kirlian Camera don't like to sit idle: just visit the discography section on their website to realize how Angelo Bergamini & Co. love to remain perpetually present in the music market with all sorts of releases (singles, EPs, collections, remixes, etc.). “Nightglory” is their latest official full-length, dating back to late 2011: if I'm only now, with much delay, getting ready to review it, it's because I never really felt like it. The “new release” from Kirlian Camera hasn't particularly thrilled me and, over time, it continues to not convince me, despite its undeniably good qualities: strange, considering a thirty-year career that essentially never had any missteps.

"Nightglory” follows the new direction of the band (now cemented around the fruitful partnership between mastermind Angelo Bergamini and singer Elena Alice Fossi), begun with “Invisible Front.2005” (from 2005) and continued with “Coroner’s Sun” (from 2006) and the imposing remix operations of “Shadow Mission HELD V” and “Odissey Europa”. This path has seen the gradual abandonment of gray/industrial tones and the transition to a brighter form of danceable and singable electronic music. Along this line (that of an intelligent synth-pop, undoubtedly tributary to the 80s decade), Bergamini’s tireless discourse continues to unfold, and this “Nightglory” further pushes the music of his creation toward the shores of accessibility never before embraced by the Emilian industrial act, placing the focus on Fossi's vocal charisma, magnificently in top form.

Kirlian Camera (given their cult band status earned and defended over many years of esteemed career) are certainly not a commercial band (far from it), yet their product in this case, somehow, ends up being so. Therefore, it hardly matters if the songs are written and performed by a prominent musician/composer like Bergamini: the songs of “Nightglory” are potential chart hits that, if not labeled as Kirlian Camera, would quite sadden me, despite their admirable craftsmanship. Because the professionalism remains as ever, only this time it lends itself to the creation of unabashedly easy-listening tracks (a peculiar case considering Kirlian Camera doesn’t exactly aim at broad audiences), danceable bases only partially connected to that EBM which made Bergamini an undisputed master in the local electro/industrial scene.

Of the industrial component, indeed, not a shadow remains.

An epic disc, pulsating beats, captivating melodies, and Fossi’s stellar performance make this “Nightglory” a certainly not malevolent product, but perhaps too inclined towards the predictable and easily approachable solution: a lack of exploration overall is noted in this yet another proof from an author from whom it's fair to expect more. The opener “I'm Not Sorry” and the title track (already a single), placed at the start, showcase it: tracks that flow smoothly, but nothing more, even though the first of the two boasts an introduction and piano coda that would suggest more positive outcomes for a rather homogeneous album that offers no great surprises. The more markedly symphonic impulses unfold from the third track—a majestic cover of “Hymn” by Ultravox, dressed for the occasion as a powerful, scenic ballad, giving Fossi further opportunity to demonstrate her immense potential behind the microphone. Worth noting is the incisive contribution of new entry Kyoo Nam Rossi on guitars, which are prominently present throughout the album, aimed at rounding/strengthening Bergamini’s lavish synth arrangements, but never particularly clawing (yet appreciable is the intent to never devolve into a banal and not so trendy metal-goth, whose threat seems to lurk around every corner).

If “Save Me Lord (From Killing Them All)” is the inevitable folk episode (with Fossi’s excessively syrupy contribution), the fifth track with a lengthy title (“Winged Child Sitting on a Bench Watching Obscure Clouds Getting Closer While People Seek for Shelter”) returns us to the Kirlian Camera we love the most: overwhelming, melodic, dramatic, illuminated by Fossi's usual brilliant vocal performance. The chamber interlude “I Killed Judas” (with a super theatrical Fossi) deserves credit for bringing out the darker hues of the project; meanwhile, the other single “Immortal”, is another highlight of the album: the ever-changing bases marry perfectly with electric guitars drawing electro-goth landscapes, where Elena Fossi's voice soars high in the sky, giving substance to an album that doesn't particularly score on the instrumental front, which here more than ever appears to be an accompaniment to the talent of the seductive singer: it's needless to state that here, both the sunny and gloomy weather are dictated by Elena Fossi herself, impeccable from a technical standpoint, yet at times excessively indulged in sugary vocal lines (as in “I Gave You Wings – I Gave You Death”, where the sinister, rhythmic drum-machine hinted at the long-awaited industrial song that we anticipate until the end of the listen, without it ever materializing).

“Black Tiger Rising” is, finally, an orchestral interlude paving the way for the evocative final track “Gethsemane”, another cover, this time from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar”, reaffirming how Bergamini’s free art has always embraced the cause of bold reinterpretation.

In conclusion, “Nightglory”, oozes sensuality, elegance, and class from every pore, but deprives us of the more experimental and menacing aspect of the Emilian formation, an indefinable entity that has always revolved around Bergamini's hallucinatory poetry, a multifaceted and undoubtedly prepared artist, whose talent, this time, works in the shadow of a titanic Elena Fossi, who from the first to the last note seems to want to take the role of protagonist, not always (in terms of sensitivity and daring) apt to the situation, marring by self-indulgence and an excessive attraction to a sugary pop. An aspect that doesn't necessarily constitute a flaw...