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The Well of Sadness - In Our Last Time


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Apart from a few neoclassical projects I know and even like, I haven’t been really familiar with the genre and cannot say that I have any particular knowledge of it. That being the case, I decided to sink somewhat deeper into the topic, the first step of which was encountering an Italian project called The Well of Sadness. Fortunately enough we had one of its albums, ‘In Our Last Time’, in our archives, so without further ado I pushed play and… felt disappointed.

As I’ve already mentioned, when it comes to neoclassical music I’m an amateur at best, so my opinion on ‘In Our Last Time’ may be seen as lay, which does not change the fact that the LP did not thrill me in any way. The most surprising thing was the sound of the album, which although produced in 2007, seemed old-fashioned. I don’t know if this was made on purpose, but the spirit of 80/90’s is omnipresent, which particularly shows in a poor rhythm section and keyboards a’la early Coil or Dead Can Dance (both of which made it better). When it comes to other sounds, well there aren’t many of them, tracks are based heavily on the already mentioned keyboards, rarely supported by some additional effects or classical piano sound.
The music is complemented with vocals, which recite lyrics, as it can hardly be called singing. The feeling of monotony was overwhelming, and the only interesting tune was the last one, ‘Me Ans a Green Man’, which ironically was more dark/neofolk than neoclassical, simultaneously being richer than the rest of the album. Oh, and it does not feature any vocals.
Paradoxically, although the music is not of the best sort, the atmosphere it creates is the only thing on the LP I can’t say a bad word about. Taking into account the name of the project, one could suspect the album be filled with sad emotions, and that’s precisely the case. Additionally, there’s a pinch of melancholy, a bit of augustness, and even some anxiety. All of this is most certainly a good quality. Too bad the music is not of the same quality.

That’s how it is. The neoclassicism of The Well of Sadness is not what I would respond positively to, mainly due to poor execution. That does not mean I will cease my search for something more suitable. Meanwhile, 60%.

Tracklist:

01. All The Pretty Faces Painted Grey
02. Cosi Sia
03. Heirs of the Promise
04. In Our Last Times
05. Infant Joy
07. Infant Sorrow
08. The Call of the Bell
09. The Lamb
10. The Land of Dreams
11. Unborn
12. Nothing
13. Me Ans A Green Man
Author:
Translator: fiuri
Add date: 2012-09-24 / Music reviews


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