Talking about this record presents several pitfalls, not least of which is the risk of contradicting oneself several times in the course of the same review. The problem is that this Ashes To Ashes, debut album of the Ukrainian one man band Luna, in practice blends in no uncertain terms the latest works of Ea and Monolithe, drawing heavily from the formula that has made these two great realities of funeral death doom, starting from the presence in the tracklist of a single, very long, track. The similarities certainly do not end here, in fact, the compositional style exhibited by DeMort, the musician behind this operation, does not deviate one iota from that expressed by the two bands mentioned, thanks to the overabundance of evocative atmospheres driven mostly by a solemn keyboard work, often with an orchestral touch, or by a minimal use of piano that goes to draw simple but engaging melodic lines, based on a scheme based on an almost mathematical alternation between riffs and interventions of the drums. In short, put like this there would be enough to indignantly throw the headphones screaming at plagiarism (or so), if it were not that Ashes To Ashes, despite the length and an undeniable repetitiveness of the background, proves to be an absolutely pleasant listening, especially for those who love both the mysterious figures without a name and a face, both the more recognizable but equally shy transalpine. The only difference, not insignificant for the purposes of its final performance, is the instrumental matrix of the album, which inevitably makes it more tiring listening, as well as making it seem, in fact, a sort of ambient record on which they were skillfully grafted heavy guitar riffs and percussion. For the rest, nothing to say about DeMort’s ability to build almost an hour of credible music, while managing to keep sufficiently away from the cloyingness that, in similar circumstances, is likely to take over in every moment; positive is also the fact that, all in all, Ashes To Ashes takes quota in its final quarter of an hour, when, however, Ea become definitely something more than a simple influence. In short, taking this work as it is, pretending to have temporarily lost our memory, we could enjoy it without any qualms; unfortunately it’s not like that and, although I’m not a maniac of originality at all costs, I can’t help but propose a mountaineering comparison: there’s the one who opens a new way and there’s the one who, afterwards, uses it, undoubtedly struggling much less; then you can say that both of them have reached the top anyway, but no one should ever forget that this happened with very different times and ways.

2014 – Solitude Productions