vote
7.0
- Band:
Graven (ITA) - Duration: 00:33:00
- Available from: 10/06/2025
It is said that behind the first works there is almost always an autobiographical experience: it applies to the novels and perhaps it is also valid for those albums which, as novels, are written alone. All the more so if alone are also played, engraved and products.
The work before of the One-Man Band Rimini Graven (not to be confused with the most marked German training) would seem to confirm this belief, since “March of the Broken” is presented as the fantastic transposition of a long inner journey, a path of solitude and rebirth in search of an existential destination.
On paper, the form chosen to tell this story is that of an atmospheric black metal metal oriented towards riff: in reality there is also much more, especially in terms of contaminations ranging from Swedish Death to Heavy and which appear at different times with listening, helping to equip each trace of a defined personality.
The key of the time of the whole album is the remarkable guitar work, around which the whole proposal of Graven revolves: as already mentioned, in “March of the Broken” there is a marked propensity in search of the melody and the memorable riff, sculpted with taste and traveled by a genuine emotional charge; But it also finds the right space a weighted virtuosity, which manifests itself in the numerous only well -settled and always functional to the song. It is an aspect that works well throughout the album, but that shines especially in “A Hundred Deaths” and in the title-track.
In addition to the direct and engaging approach, to flatter the listener we also find some more or less declared tributes to a cult band such as Summoning: the “Uncharted Dreams” Open, for example, contains the steps that would be said to be a real tribute to the legendary Austrian duo.
Like many first works, however, “March of the Broken” still presents some bitterness: net of many good ideas, of a not indifferent intuition for the Catchy solutions and a sincere emotional transport, the project still seems to be looking for a really strong and recognizable identity. On the one hand, the arrangements, at times a little school and not always effective in giving the songs a deep three -dimensionality make it think so; on the other – and perhaps above all – the production, which sounds rather difficult to the first plays. In our opinion, the most critical aspect is the muffled mixing and lo-fi of the voice, which contrasts little organically with the clean guitar and the programmed battery.
A last not entirely convincing detail, in our personal taste, is the wide use of spoken inserts: for example, in the aforementioned “Uncharted Dreams” the large recited parts make it regret a real vocal line capable of dialogue with good bearing riffs.
Despite these perfectible aspects, that of Graven is a more than appreciable departure, which demonstrates the possession of the tools and attitude necessary for interesting growth. We trust in a second chapter that fully expresses the many positive aspects of this release, arrived as a welcome gust of cold wind in the hottest summer ever.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
