Review: Embrace of Disharmony – De Rervm Natvra

Style: progressive metal, symphonic metal, avant-garde metal (mixed, female vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Native Construct, Ne Obliviscaris, Diablo Swing Orchestra
Review by: Jonah
Country: Italy
Release date: 7 June 2019

So if you’re like me and you like to glance at the FFO section in reviews before reading the full thing, you might be just a tad confused. Well let me tell you, I was just as confused the first time I turned this album on. Within the first song or two I had been bombarded with Nightwish style symphonic power metal, full-on black metal riffing and shrieks, and the weird-time riffing and singing that is signature to bands like Native Construct and Haken. This all happened within the span of about 3 minutes, leaving 7 minutes of song left in the first track alone. Now, the issue when a band does this many things at once becomes, “do they do it all well?” and let me tell you, Embrace of Disharmony blows it all out of the water.

Instrumentally this album is an adventure. The guitars shift seamlessly from technical prog riffing to tremolo picking to soaring symphonic metal leads and it all just flows together effortlessly, showcasing a real gift for composition in the band. The drumming is often more a backdrop, but is incredibly technically sound, as is the bass. The vocals will likely be a bit more contentious for some, as the band has both a male and female vocalist and both are just a little odd. The female vocals are very traditionally operatic, but the tone is closer to something like Diablo Swing Orchestra than Nightwish or similar bands. The male cleans are again similar to Nightwish’s backing male vocals in their functionality and lack of flashiness, however whenever he breaks out his harsh vocals I’m really surprised by how much I enjoy the blackened shrieks and rasps, a style that I usually don’t care for. However, in the context of this music I find it quite effective. The orchestra elements, of which there are quite a few, all work excellently throughout the album and I’d like to pay special attention to the piano-playing, which is just ethereal and gorgeous every time it becomes a focus in a song.

The production on this album is incredibly tight, and you can really hear every element in every song with complete ease. While I would normally be a bit put-off by the nearly hour long run time, I can’t pick out a single moment on this album I would want to remove. Even the narration (which is in Italian and better for it) feels quite fitting when it occurs.

This is definitely not an album for everyone, and hell it shouldn’t even really be an album for me, but something about it is incredibly interesting, and keeps roping me back for another listen. I highly recommend it to any prog fan, and anyone with an open enough mind to enjoy something that’s just a bit weirder than they might be used to.

Recommended tracks: De Primordiis Rervm, De Infinitate Orbivm, De Pavore Mortis
You may also like: Edge of Reality, The World Is Quiet Here, Artificial Silence
Final verdict: 10/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: My Kingdom Music – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Embrace of Disharmony is:
– Gloria Zanotti (vocals)
– Matteo Salvarezza (guitars, vocals)
– Leonardo Barcaroli (bass)
– Emiliano Cantiano (drums)