Taking into consideration the whole Italian metal movement, Dark Lunacy would deserve something similar to a lifetime achievement award. Mind you, we’re not talking about the same recognition that is given to artists who are faded: here, in fact, we are referring to a reality that continues to be a guide and example for all local bands who want to open a peculiar way to break into the hearts of fans. Mike continues on his path started back in 1997, when a bunch of guys from Parma got the wonderful idea to merge death metal with classical music: since then, six full lengths have been released, including a seminal one (Forget Me Not) and an absolute masterpiece (The Diarist), both enclosed in the central phase of the last decade. The instability of the line-up, which over the years has seen too many musicians at Mike’s court, has certainly not helped to provide Dark Lunacy with the continuity needed to continue to churn out works of that level: so, after a more opaque Weaver Of Forgotten, The Day Of Victory has brought the bar back to coordinates close to The Diarist, both dealing with issues related to Soviet culture and history, and finding the brilliance that was partially lacking in the previous work. In The Rain After The Snow, we move instead in stylistic scenarios closer to Forget Me Not, with the not insignificant difference of the introduction of an orchestral element more real and perfectly integrated with the extreme pulsions of the sound, thanks also to an impeccable production. All this is also due to the compositional continuity offered by Jacopo Rossi, a Genoese musician active in several bands of the Ligurian capital (Antropofagus, Nerve, Will’O’Wisp), which for some years now is proving to be the ideal musical partner of Mike. The Rain After The Snow deals with the theme of the passage between the winter and spring seasons as a metaphor for existence itself and, as has been the case for years, the poetic afflatus poured by Mike in his lyrics clashes with the always rocky and characteristic growl; the fulcrum of the work is in the central phase with the couple Gold, Rubies And Diamonds (not coincidentally the track chosen to be accompanied by an excellent video) and the most poignant Precious Things, but the album is in its entirety a collection of precious songs, full of a melodic and emotional impact that makes the listening rather smooth, even if in this case you can not talk about a light approach. Dark Lunacy are one of the excellences, but above all one of the certainties, expressed by the Italian music movement, not only in the metal field: beyond the merit of having opened a road that others have partially followed, rightly obtaining great feedbacks (Fleshgod Apocalypse above all), it’s not so trivial to find a band able, after twenty years, to produce art of such thickness, and I think that no other words are needed to urge anyone who feeds on music to give the band from Parma a support completely adequate to its undisputed value.

2016 – Fuel Records 2017 – Fono Ltd. / Rubicon Music