Elsewhere - Promo EP 2009

Elsewhere are a Italian Gothic/Doom band that combines the influences of My Dying Bride, Opeth, Paradise Lost, Katatonia and insert sounds reminiscent of bands from the great Italian Progressive Rock scene. The band is made up of Martino(vocals), Riccardo( piano), Edoardo(bass) and Luciano(guitars). This 3 track EP explores relationships, the difficulty to live within modern society, anguish, pain and the constant quest to find an utopian solution to death. As a band they have a sound that is a little different in structure than the usual Goth/Doom outfit as they have a lot of Progressive Rock touches and even some guitar work that is verging on blues at times or at least that's how i hear it. The EP starts off with the epic "A Worthless Corpse" that combines a slow and haunting melody that is full of emotion. There is a fine balance between the heavy extended riff work and some delicate moody sections including the piano intro which sets the mood for this 14 minute track. The song does a pretty good job at keeping your attention despite being a little long and the instrumental role-play show a great deal of versatility.

Second track "Forsaking" is perhaps the most "prog-rock" of the three songs with some interesting tempo changes and acoustic parts. They produce a kind of cinematic drama within this tune and while it sounds a little too much like Opeth in parts, it sounds like the strongest tune on the EP. The final track is "We Are Water" and this is Doom at its most intimate, very melancholic but also showing some subtle diversity. This is one of the better bands i have heard this year playing this style but i found the vocals to be a little weak, not bad but lacking some emotional depth that these songs need. The production is excellent and the playing is very good but does the world need another band like My Dying Bride? I would think not but at least they are trying something a little different. 8/10

www.myspace.com/musicfromelsewhere