Navigating You Through the Progressive Underground

Album art by Denis Forkas Kostromitin

Style: Progressive death metal, progressive rock, black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth (Watershed/The Last Will and Testament), Blood Incantation, Edge of Sanity
Country: Italy
Release date: 29 November 2024

One of the most successful species in the world—certainly the most successful mammal—is the one that shares its name with one of the few truly great punk albums. I speak, of course, of Rattus norvegicus: the brown rat. It’s a species that has defined human existence as both a vector for plagues and as a guinea pig for our scientific advances in medicine; common wisdom has it that you’re never more than an average of six feet from a rat. The second most successful mammalian species is the Opeth clone; you’re never more than one week away from hearing one again.

They come in many shapes and sizes, eras and combinations, and apparently if you lay down an Opeth worship band long enough, they’ll get a Bedsore1. Now “worship” is a slightly pejorative phrase and “Opeth” is a rather broad one, so let’s pin down what we mean. Capturing the synth-centric ‘70s throwback/metal fusion of Opeth from Watershed onwards, Bedsore throw in a shot of blackened influences and up the jazzy chaos, cultivating a multi-layered approach entirely their own. The use of fretless bass and 12-string guitar add a jam band sensibility which increases the off-kilter sensibility. Indeed, Bedsore sound less like Opeth than a band who were influenced by the same bands as Opeth and came to a similar yet unique sound organically; denizens of the prog death underground may be reminded of Finnish project Perihelion Ship in this regard. 

Opening track “Minerva’s Obelisque” demonstrates this well: an instrumental work (other than the atmospheric vocalise2 of guest vocalist Kariti) that builds on its endlessly repeating eight chord motif with subtle variations, doling out thick layers of synth. Frequently, Bedsore inject the compositions with striking flourishes: “Realm of Eleuterillide” dissolves into a gorgeous jazz break and when the metal returns the trumpets give a sense of car chase drama to the music. “Fanfare for a Heartfelt Love” opens like a Bach fugue with strident organ work, while on closing number “Fountain of Venus” when the synths arrive they sound like they’ve time warped out of an Emerson, Lake & Palmer record. Occasionally, guest saxophone and trumpet are utilised in ways that eschew the bombastic guest solos employed by many bands, instead weaved into the songs in texturally satisfying ways; subtle brushstrokes rather than globs of Pollock-y jizzum.

The twelve minute epic “A Colossus, an Elephant, a Winged Horse; the Dragon Rendezvous” sees Bedsore at their best: a portentous build of ambient synths sets the scene for what starts to feel like it might be an atonal Stravinsky romp before the band settle into a groove. Climactic sections ebb and flow—whether they be led by a lascivious entanglement of guitar and sax or romping through a lamentary carnivalesque waltz—and chaos continually perforates proceedings, the rhythm section working away stalwartly while keys and sax make ruthless plays for power.

However, observant readers will have noticed I haven’t mentioned one crucial element of Dreaming the Strife for Love, and it’s the vocals. Regrettably, these constitute the only real weak link in Bedsore’s defences, a slew of melodramatic, kvlty shouting, totally lacking in the finesse of the instrumental accompaniment. One yearns for some mellifluous crooning to break up the onslaught of Italian yelling3, or even just serviceable harshes, but no such respite comes and it’s a relief that Bedsore tend to indulge in long and layered instrumental sections so peak enjoyment comes often. For what it’s worth, my fellow reviewer Andy disagrees with me on the vocals4 and lovers of black metal will be more amenable to the somewhat post-punky blackened shrieking, but music lovers of a more Opethian melody-loving stripe will likely be left disappointed by the contrast.

Instrumentally speaking, Bedsore are something of a revelation, a mad scientist blend of glimmering synthesiser layers and idiosyncratic guitar work with a gorgeous jazz influenced sense of intricacy. Were it not for the blunt force barks that do such a disservice to the compositional tapestry, we might be talking about a potential album of the year. Nevertheless, Dreaming the Strife for Love demands the attention of any adventurous prog fan by sheer dint of its compositional boldness.


Recommended tracks: Scars of Light | Fountain of Venus | A Colossus, an Elephant, a Winged Horse; the Dragon Rendezvous
You may also like: Perihelion Ship, The Anchoret, Mefitis, Sweven
Final verdict: 7/10

  1. Sometimes we at The Progressive Subway we try to predict a band’s genre by their name alone (we’re cool that way) and Bedsore is a textbook grindcore band name. Dreaming the Strife for Love, meanwhile, sounds like an 80s arena metal chorus. ↩︎
  2. Entry 1,041,823 into the canon of Reasons Why English is Dumb: vocalise (pronounced vocal-ease) is any type of singing without words. Why they couldn’t just spell it ‘vocalease’ to distinguish it from the verb form is beyond me. ↩︎
  3. We have enough of that at The Progressive Subway when Francesco goes off on one about insufficiently Italian power metal bands and folk metal with harsh vocals. ↩︎
  4. A timely reminder that a review is only ever one person’s opinion and that Andy’s is invariably wrong. ↩︎

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

Label: 20 Buck Spin – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Bedsore is:
– Jacopo Gianmaria Pepe (vocals, electric guitar, 12-string guitar)
– Stefano Allegretti (classical guitar, synthesizers, Mellotron, organ, keyboards)
– Giulio Rimoli (fretless bass, bass pedals)
– Davide Itri (drums, percussion)