There is definitely something that does not fit after listening to this ep of the Sardinians Apneica, and I’m not talking about the quality of the work that, as we shall see, is absolutely above average, but the fact that so far very few seem to have noticed the enormous potential of this band. Probably the fact of not being supported by a label or by some agency that takes care of the promotion of the ep influences not a little in this regard, and this is a pity, since I’ve lost count of the bands that are not worth a fingernail of Apneica and that, despite this, live under the comfortable protective wings of labels even of a certain name. So, who expects to have to listen to a handcrafted product or, even worse, a messy one, finds himself thunderstruck by a first song like Alba Artificiale that, in some ways, partially disproves the label death doom that accompanies the guys from Sorso: personally, I also find a considerable influence of the noblest post metal, which moves the sound towards shores in some ways unusual, but perhaps more appropriate to those alien worlds described by the excellent lyrics strictly in Italian. Although the style of the band is certainly very personal (and in a genre like this, believe me, it’s anything but obvious to succeed) the first name that comes to mind at the level of stylistic contiguity is another young local reality, or the Brescians (EchO). The excellent alternation between growl and clean voice exhibited by Ignazio Simula is the ideal means of expression to support the compositional skills of Alessandro Seghene, mastermind of the group and impeccable guitarist; the transition from solo project to band in all respects coincided with the landing to more focused sounds than the experimental and instrumental death doom contained in the self-titled work released in 2011, a result to which has obviously contributed the rhythmic couple consisting of Francesco Pintore (bass) and Luigi Cabras (drums). In fact, this difference is found by listening to the closing track, the title track, an instrumental perfectly executed and of undoubted quality to which, however, the absence of the vocal contribution that had accompanied us in the first twenty minutes of the ep, ends up not doing justice. Assenza Di Gravità and In Orbita, in fact, are two other tracks with an enormous impact and there is no doubt that the growl of the good Ignazio contributes to harden the sounds as much as his clean voice softens the traits, avoiding in this way that the sound assumes interlocutory connotations. If Pulsazioni… Conversione represented a sort of test wanted by Alessandro to verify the performance of Apneica in their new guise, I’d say that the results have gone well beyond the rosiest expectations: the work is a real jewel that must end as soon as possible on the desk of some far-sighted label (and in Italy there are some, for sure) able to help ours to reach, with their music, more people possible even outside the national borders, where the receptivity to this type of sounds is far superior.

2014 – Independent