vote
8.0
It is said 'enfant prodige'A child who already has already mastery of a technique or knowledge of a topic comparable to those of a very experienced adult before thirteen. How and why some people manifest these qualities from very young people a half mystery of neuroscience, but the socio-cultural and family contexts of origin also have something to do with it. Of those in which the Alexander 'Alex' and Mykhailo 'Misha' Andronati brothers have grown, we actually know little, and less than their musical talent has been early enough to make them fall in the definition of 'Children prodigy': however, listening to their third album under the moniker Labyrinthus Stellarum, it is evident that the two very young Ukrainian artists are not only for competence, but also for the personality already very defined by their proposal.
Twenty-four and seventeen years, active since 2021 and without any previous experience, Alex and Misha represent an excellent example of what the Gen-Z has to offer original in the black metal field. Some nostalgic could turn up their noses in front of their post-2010 taste, but it is really difficult not to recognize the freshness and remarkable maturity of their work.
Before talking about “RIVT in reality”, two things for those who do not know the band: according to the declarations of the Andronati brothers, the duo (they are a quartet only in the live site) was born with the idea of making music à la lustre. The imprint of the elegant project of Henrik Sunding in fact a little feels, but it is more than anything else a track that is given a fairly unpublished development: the Labyrinthus Stellarum offer a Cosmic Black with a cold sound, but far from rarefied, with a very strong electronic/industrial contamination and a certain intuition for the Melodic refrain and the easy -to -take riff.
A formula that is now well consolidated in its third test on the long distance: “Rift in reality” is in fact a convincing album from every point of view, from the technique to songwriting, from the general architecture of the work to production, to the narrative concept that speaks of adventures between unknown galaxies and threatening alien breeds. You already feel it from the “Voyager” opaner, but it is perhaps in the launch single “Ravenus Planet” that you really capture how the Labyrinthus Stellarum have turned the lesson of the black atmospheric with the synth protagonists in an almost danceable key, which culminates in an immediate sing-along refrain. The structure of the song is also far from trivial, built around a multitude of ideas that flow organically into each other without large hitches.
The same winning mix of complexity and catchability reaches a new peak in the brilliant title-track: a ride that is a manifesto of the brand new under 30 metal school, but which also looks to a certain black tradition and which is embellished with non-trivial details-as the sought-after oriental nuance.
“Rift in reality” is engaging not only because it is Catchy, but also and perhaps above all because it sounds wonderfully spontaneous, courageous and never mannerist. It is a powerful album in its emotions, which oscillate from the anguished solitude of the almost-pebbles “take us home” and “Lost in the void” to the epic rescue of “Cosmic Plague”, accompanying the listener through thirty-seven minutes of music without drops and without dead moments.
If this is the beginning, the Labyrinthus Stellarum could have the potential to become a project to keep an eye on in the near future. Waiting for the next message from their spaceship, let's enjoy this galactic journey that knows of Space contemporary work.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
