After the great critical success of the album Beyond that Wall, released through Epictronic Records, the Italian electronic rock project Despite the Wane is back with another gem: their spellbinding new single “The Angel of Death,” which starts with a pulsing bassline and lovely shimmering synth textures from the very first moment, initiating the listener in Despite the Wane’s meticulously worked sonic world.
What the track does so seamlessly is to blend these elements of new wave, prog, goth and electronic rock into an organic whole.With Mir Kollins’ entrancing delivery, his baritone voice compellingly leading the song’s metaphysical, metaphorical narrative, at the core. Kollins’ metaphorical storytelling gifts are in full force here: “The Angel of Death” feels profoundly conceptual weight as he ponders such existential problematics.
The sound is, if anything, equally mesmerizing with Kollins and guitarist Max Dury complementing the captivating vocals. The fretwork of Dury’s is phenomenal, pushing the emotional momentum along with urgent riffs one moment, before flinging off introspective achingly emotive lead lines the next. The tastefulness of his solo adds to the song’s atmospheric intensity, while the Wane’s production skills are also here, the whole thing gelled into an impressively seamless, full-bodied sound.
The pulsating basslines, the punchy percussion, the stratospheres of shimmering keys and synths: It’s all there, and they all work to establish a hypnotic embrace for the listener.Knowing that despite the Wane are committed to the imperative of substantive songwriting is most crucial, because they don’t allow “The Angel of Death” to become spectacle for spectacle’s sake That is thoughtful, conceptually rich music that arguably deserves its grandeur and gravitas, and even more emphatically now that “The Angel of Death” has proved that Beyond That Wall was no fluke, that Despite the Wane are a genuinely vital creative force at the very highest level. Despite being a crowning achievement, it’s a certifier of their status as pioneers of Italy’s modern rock vanguard.
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