Venturia
The New Kingdom

The new promise of the international prog scene is called Venturia. At least according to international critics. The group hails from the land of the world vice-champions, France, a land that has historically offered little in the metal scene, or at least proposals of questionable quality.

In recent years, some small hopes for transalpine prog come from groups like Adagio and the debutants Venturia, who, after about 5 years of "apprenticeship," are now releasing their first album titled "The New Kingdom." I'll tell you, this new proposal, which seemed so promising, disappointed me a bit. I am not referring to the usual technical execution, which, in a genre like progressive metal, must be of a certain level, and in this respect, the members of Venturia are experts: the guitarists are fast and precise at the right point, the songs are complex enough with really good and well-studied arrangements. It's also pointless to reiterate what the points of reference are for these French musicians: every respectable prog band always has to draw from the usual Dream Theater, whose influence is especially noticeable in the solos and instrumental solutions.

With the first listen of the album, my impression was really good, and it seemed to offer a truly praiseworthy proposal. But a more careful analysis showed the flaws of this album: first of all, a vocal performance lacking grit and strength from the American Mark Ferreira; but I also think the idea of "dividing" the vocal parts between two vocalists is not quite right, and here comes Lydie Robin, whose counter-singing and vocalizations often create gothic-like atmospheres that I find little suited to a progressive album. Furthermore, there is often a strong tendency for self-indulgence that frequently results in solos devoid of real meaning (a sensation that peaks when listening to the instrumental). The album immediately presents itself as powerful and with a strong dose of complexity: "The New Kingdom," the first of 8 tracks, already displays the flaws: catchy melodies, perhaps too catchy, and an interesting instrumental section, but it adheres to the clichés, now overused, of the genre.

"The UnHoly" features only Ferreira's voice, in a track that convinces for its engaging vein and appreciable variety. "Words of Silence" follows not so excellently: it starts slowly with a good clean guitar arpeggio to explode into easily-listenable melodies with veiled pop undertones, while the female voice reappears but fails to enrich a track that started well and ended without real evolution. The next "Take me Down" shows strong hard-rock influences and proves to be a good, very good track, also featuring a short and technically appropriate solo. "Fallen World (Is there a reason)" presents an intro heard too many times in the prog domain, with a fairly predictable rhythmic line even in its rhythm changes, and additionally, I perceive a poor use of the keyboard. Decidedly awful, not for its structure, but for its cheesy intention, is the ballad "Walk on to the daylight," overly saccharine. Forgettable.

And here we arrive at a track that reveals the potential hidden behind Venturia: "Candle of hope through a night of fears" is an intentionally complex and intricate instrumental, and this is its main flaw: the desire to impress and challenge the listener is truly depressing; and it would be useless to reiterate how this instrumental calls to mind certain exploits of the New York theatrics. Finally, a noteworthy track: the concluding "Dear Dead Bride" portrays Venturia as a group quite skillful overall, capable of also creating a true progressive track. Also, pay attention to Ferreira's performance, which finally showcases claws leaving behind pop harmony. An additional flaw is the overall sound of the album: produced not excellently, which primarily penalizes the power of the guitars. The qualitative result would have been the same, but certainly, a more refined sound helps to better judge a work that could show more than the usual "strangeness" dear to this genre.

Skills are certainly there, ideas are lacking, but it takes time to develop them optimally, but especially while searching for one's own identity. The important thing is to focus on music without trying to impress at all costs. For this debut, sufficiency is not achieved, despite there being some good level tracks. For prog lovers, a good novelty, that can certainly say more.