Review: Black Yet Full of Stars – Dark Wing Gospel

Style: Symphonic metal, progressive metal, power metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Therion, Haggard, Agrippa’s occult philosophy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, the works of Albertus Magnus, Rhapsody of Fire
Review by: Francesco
Country: Netherlands
Release date: 21 December 2024

When I was a younger man, I was obsessed with the music of film. I speak, of course, of the classical-inspired original compositions that used to score films and trailers before the recent trend of including lowest-common-denominator pop crap that permeates practically every new film release of the last decade. The sweeping melodies of string sections and elevated tension of the percussion, the paces accelerando as the chills ran down my spine, the pieces finally crescendoing into a marked climax – and it was like feeling a week’s worth of emotions in a two-minute period. At some point, I started listening to heavy metal and picked up the electric guitar for the first time. Eventually, I discovered Rhapsody (later ‘of Fire’), and 16-year-old me was immediately obsessed. In the time since, I’ve been all up and down the symphonic metal style and its associates power, death, black…(thrash when?) – and even though it’s no longer my go-to these days, I can always be persuaded to lend an ear to a fugue or two. Enter Black Yet Full of Stars, an impressive orchestral metal project by Amsterdam-based Italian composer Carlo M. Dini. Dark Wing Gospel is the second release under this name and features an all new lineup, including among others Davide Penna (Mirrormaze) on clean vocals and Ludovico Cioffi (Delain) on growled vocals. 

The album takes a slightly different approach to most symphonic metal; whereas many bands tend to emphasize the more standard metal elements, to which an orchestral tapestry is merely a backdrop, Black Yet Full of Stars prioritizes instead creating rousing symphonies in multiple movements, to which the metal generally takes a support role, only ever taking the forefront during solo guitar sections. As such, to suggest Dark Wing Gospel is replete with the iconic riffs or memorable sweep-picking solos of some other symphonic, perhaps neoclassical, progressive power metal outfits would be misleading; although metal is without question an important ingredient on this album, it is only part of the whole. Think more Therion, and less Rhapsody or Kamelot. The focus here has ostensibly been to create textured landscapes that conjure up grandiosity, majesty, and at times, despair; menace. The baritenor singing of Davide Penna evokes triumph and agony with a dark, emotive voice reminiscent of Adagio’s Christian Palin, while the brash, confrontational harsh vocals of Ludovico Cioffi hearken hellish creatures and dark sentiment in a manner not unlike that of Asis Nasseri from Haggard.

Certainly, ‘orchestrator’ is a title Carlo does not take lightly to, as Dark Wing Gospel is an ambitious release even for the bombast that typically defines symphonic metal. Right from the start, you can get a sense of the theatrical, grandiose nature of the album with the overture of “Halom Shacor”, the opening track of the album. The threatening sound of a pounding march fades into a sinister violin and rumbly grand piano, introducing choirs (with real people, no MIDI!) and horns, and a mounting anticipation that builds and builds, until the drums and guitars kick in with a syncopated beat that immediately gets you making a stank face. Starting a symphonic metal album with an instrumental orchestral suite isn’t groundbreaking territory by any means, but there’s a sophistication here that Carlo’s formal background in music brings to the record; there’s a definite cinematic flair here that feels very much like listening to an epic film score.

With a runtime of only forty-eight short minutes, Dark Wing Gospel packs as much as sonically possible into each of the six tracks – with only one of those coming in under the five-minute mark, and the longest being just shy of nine minutes – but as such, the pieces tend to flow into one another so well that I often found myself having to look back at my phone to redetermine which track was currently playing. The whole album is over before you know it, and even though you’re left reeling in the wake of this dramatic spectacle, indeed it can be challenging to recall the differences between pieces as the strings and horns and entire symphony sometimes becomes a blur. This isn’t necessarily a detractor, but it’s another one of the ways in which it tends to feel more like a soundtrack than a metal album. And indeed, there’s apparently an entirely orchestral and vocal remix of the album in the works that is due for release at some point.

Black Yet Full of Stars doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel with Dark Wing Gospel, but competently utilizes all the arcane knowledge that came before to forge a progressive, cerebral symphonic metal experience that fully immerses the listener with its esoteric essence. The sum and substance of this album are found throughout the genre and style, but few can competently alchemize them in the way Carlo has done. Though placemarkers can be slightly challenging to find as you run through the track listing, uniformity is not necessarily a bad thing, and it makes for a very consistent release. There’s no shortage of massive, epic Italian symphonic metal works, and Dark Wing Gospel is no exception. And yeah, maybe this album was made in the Netherlands, but it has the boot of Italy written all over it. Truly his magnum opus, these oeuvres transmute a base metal into a noble one, and render this album a joy to listen to.

Recommended tracks: “Nigredo, Foulest Servant”, “Albedo, Ancient Heart”, “Rubedo, The Artist”
You may also like: Adagio, Winter’s Verge, Audiomachine, the alchemical writing of Paracelsus, Stormlord
Final verdict: 8.5/10

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

Label: Independent

Black yet Full of Stars is:
– Carlo M. Dini (composer, producer)