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7.0
Walk In Darkness are a gothic/symphonic metal band active since 2015, with the particularity that the members are all hooded and masked, with the exception of the sole singer Nicoletta Rosellini (Alterium), who instead shows her face uncovered.
The Tuscan band had so far published four full-lengths, the last of which, “Leaves Rolling In Time”, was released in 2022. The following year the publication of new singles with related video clips began, initially with “Towards Chang'An” and “Across The Ocean”, two very beautiful songs, characterized by deep and emotional atmospheres, persuasive melodies, refined orchestral arrangements and hard guitars, in line with what is the typical style of the Walk In Darkness.
Following this, in 2024, “Mother” and “Freedom” were released, two tracks that maintain these elements, but are overall perhaps a little less captivating than the previous ones. In 2025 it was then the turn of “Chasing The Horizon”, which from an almost industrial start immediately evolved into gothic and melancholic atmospheres, with the contribution of growl voices from Emanuele Pasquinelli, a long-time collaborator with the band, as a guest on some songs.
Now it's the turn of the new full-length, entitled “Gods Don't Take Calls”, therefore widely anticipated and which, in addition to collecting all the singles already released, includes three other tracks, plus a revisitation of “Last Siren”, a song originally included in the first album.
As for the new unreleased songs, “Nico Rising” is a perfect opening track, immediately direct and with a nice refrain; “No Banners No Glory” is decidedly gothic, with orchestrations that outline dreamlike atmospheres: in this case Rosellini with her clear voice practically duets with those in growl, but there is also the participation of the singer Clara Sorace as a guest; “You Who Dream” follows a bit along the lines of the previous one, however alternating harder passages with more ethereal ones and with greater emphasis on the melodies.
Walk In Darkness therefore, as always led by the guitarist and main composer Shaman, confirm themselves as a band with its own main line and its own conceptual and philosophical vision, which translates its vision of humanity and society into music with a strong emotional character, capable of articulating itself between 'cinematic' orchestrations and melancholic atmospheres, combining hard riffs and powerful sounds with more ethereal and dreamy moments.
In our opinion the band expresses itself best precisely when it immerses itself in the more introspective and emotional side of its sound, while it seems a little less incisive in the more aggressive parts: this certainly from a purely musical point of view, but to some extent also from a vocal point of view, perhaps also due to the rather sporadic and marginal presence of extreme vocals.
This last aspect is however valid up to a certain point, because we believe that Rosellini does an excellent job from all points of view and manages to enrich the songs quite a bit with her performance, so actually, in most cases, there is no need for additional vocal lines.
In conclusion, Walk In Darkness demonstrate that they have a clear vision and have their own precise identity, which they have been carrying forward for ten years now and which is confirmed with absolute stylistic coherence in this new album of theirs.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
