The Archetype
The Fallen Grace

ITALY... Beautiful country, spaghetti, pizza, lots of beautiful ancient stones. Also a lot of fun, especially for us guys, thanks to the free trade policy of our beloved Berlusca. Beautiful landscapes, Alpennines, not to forget the very recent mountains of waste rising near Naples, but who cares, the snow sticks anyway. And let's not forget the immense beauty of our population, made up of ignorant salaried folks, fake hobos, excommunicated priests, underage prostitutes, rough people, people who can't speak either English or Italian... but only the archaic dialect. And then, damn it, we are one of the leading countries in tourism, only we have cities with more illegal immigrants than Italians, we have Tunisian shepherds and Libyan artisans only here. Someone makes a great effort to have them cross the Alps with elephants to then reach France or rough Germany... but let's keep these Bedouins to ourselves!! Otherwise, who will the news blame for massacred little girls or mafia killers? But still, there's also a lot of beautiful music, miiiii Ferro, Carta, Allevi, Eros, Vasco, Oxa, Scotto, and finally Benson!!! I mean, guys, for sure... Well, then there are also underground people like Verdi, Jovanotti, Guccini, Caparezza, Vivaldi, De André, Graziani, Pavarotti, PFM... But I don't understand a damn thing and these people here do not appeal to me, and I conclude by saying that Italy is a shitty country where prostitutes are richer than the pope and people who make good music are not listened to at all, and we marvel at the rinses from Scandinavia in Beuzum style. And so sometimes we forget about Novembre.

But today I'm here for another unknown group of people, and despite all our efforts, they could only remain unknown; because our mind is too bland and too deceitful, I don't even know what it means, to realize that there's no need to buy a CIDDI' of Airon Meiden for 20 euros to listen to stupid stuff or perhaps 17 gold coins to die of paranoia while listening to a shitty spray like only Varg ambient style can do, but all you need is to look around and there are way too many strange types, without spending much.

Am I perhaps talking to you about the only Italians who have approached the "Prog Death Metal barely Prog and barely Death" genre, meaning you won't hear anything spectacular like Dream Theater or sloppy like Morbid Angel, but you will be fascinated by the note placed there, because that's where it has to be and not there! I don't know if you understand me, but it's practically one of those sub-genres deemed bland by most of the crowd but for some strange reason you consider it superior and that only you can fully appreciate and enjoy.

"The Fallen Grace" is the first album by Archetype from 2010. Obviously unknown guys, but you learn more from an underground album than from 1000 Master of Pappezz, I guarantee you. The entire thing lasts 51 minutes but is very listenable. Songs range from 3 minutes up to 11 minutes. There are 8 songs. Although it's the first album, it's quite well done and the quality is very good (hats off), but it's also true that now they make artisanal albums with precious finishes (like the flying Dutchman Ayreon). Perhaps the mixer's work might disgust you with the guitars in a background state and the voice practically jumping at you. Speaking of the voice, there are 3 types of vocals here: scream, growl, and clean. All 3 are done well, especially the clean, maybe the growl loses something but still acceptable. The album greatly deviates from "normal" and floral arpeggios are distributed quite well ("Ethereal", "Twisted visions", "Memoria") and kick-ass riffs ("The Fall", "Ghost Blinded by Sand", "Rise Again"), also nice solos and good times. They might not go deep in sound but there's plenty of reasoning. Furthermore, I happened to finally taste something really special: you know when the hair on your arms stands up? Well, it happened to me on a snippet of "Rise Again" (once again hats off). I also highlight the last "Memoria", the only one sung in Italian, also beautiful. I will post a sample of both. Anyway, an album to listen to. I would give it a very honest 7+, but what's the point of telling you, no one will listen to it.

The only major flaw is perhaps presented by the cover, which is beautiful, but if you look carefully, you'll realize it was done entirely on the computer. The little man is busted as pixelated, but who cares.

I hope that someone still knows how to read and enjoyed the review; and if not the review, at least the album in question (especially if you don’t know how to read).

By LuGrezzo