Genres: progressive metal, melodic death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Katatonia, Opeth, In the Woods, Green Carnation, Evergrey
Country: Italy
Release date: 15 March 2024
I love unambitious prog metal, let me explain.
Typically, this genre is known for its maximalism: a desire to flaunt technical and compositional chops in order to realize a musical ideal. Some bands go all in on the technicality, other bands throw the kitchen sink at the songwriting board, and others will try to push compositional boundaries as they forgo traditional songwriting as much as possible. For me, this is a bit much. I love all these elements, but only in moderation. Give me an emotive singer, melodic lead play, some good hooks, and I’m all set. I want to be able to follow each song development on foot, or at most, on bicycle. When too many things are happening at once, I get overwhelmed and zone out mentally. This is why I love Vanden Plas and Enslaved but am only lukewarm on Haken and Ne Obliviscaris, and also why I deem Emperor of Sand to be Mastodon’s best album. Indeed, it is these streamlined, less “ambitious” prog bands that I love the most.
The Moor is an Italian “dark” progressive metal band fitting right in with this scene. No song is longer than six minutes, the structures are relatively safe, and though adventurous, the music moves at only a cycling pace. The band has been around for quite some time, but given that they have taken six years between each release, I wouldn’t blame you if they never caught your attention. Nevertheless, we can celebrate the present moment and dissect their third and latest album Ombra.
Ombra starts with a grandiose, Hans Zimmer style orchestral intro track, which according to some of my co-writers might even be a medley. Usually I don’t care much for intro tracks like this, but this one is epic. Getting into the meat of the album, “The Overlord Disease” is a wonderful dark melodic song with heavy, vaguely Deliverance era Opethian riffs that cycle between death, black, and doom metal leanings, and vocals that alternate between ghastly harshes and a soothing tenor clean voice. Its chorus melody is instantly catchy, and the guitar solo in the bridge is phenomenal too. “Illuminate” is another heater, this time giving more spotlight to the drumming and lets the gothic influences shine through, and the title track brings back the Zimmer orchestra and combines it with some clearly Blackwater Park-inspired arrangements for the most epic song yet. It is also the only track sung in Italian on the album.
The album’s middle section though is where things start to drag a little. “This River Spoke” is still amazing with a banger ritualistic chorus and one of the most intense harsh vocal sections of the album, but “Lifetime Damage” is a plodding song where I found only the harsh vocal parts impactful, and “Our Tides” barely covers new ground. Indeed, the melancholic-vocals-over-chunky-riffs shtick gets a little tiring over the course of the album. Each individual song is well constructed, but you can only chonk in midtempo and croon melodramatically for so long before it loses its flavor. A melodic ballad or two, or another epic like the title track would have done wonders for the album’s pacing. Some eye-catching parts remain—see the acoustic section in “Passage” and its following guitar solo, the bouncy riffs underneath the harsh vocal parts in “Thirst,” or just “Withered” in general—but by and large The Moor’s creativity was spent on the first half of Ombra.
The production of Ombra ties into these issues. Sometimes the band will use electronic elements or synths to lead in a track, but when the guitars come in they fade to the background, undercutting what could have been a source of diversity. Similarly, the clean vocals can also have a hard time topping the instrumental violence, which is not a great mark for such a vocally driven band. Balance issues aside though, Ombra sounds terrific. The heavy riffs are heavy, the guitar tone during the solos is to die for, the drums sound punchy, and the harsh vocals are completely enveloping when they appear. On the whole, a lot more good than bad, but with some kinks to iron out still.
For the most part, Ombra is impressive. The Moor show a real aptitude for compact songwriting and largely nailed a professional production. I have added roughly half of these songs to my “unambitious prog” playlist because the moments this band clicks into gear I find special. However, a lack of maximalism does not excuse a lack of tonal diversity and midtempo abuse, so as a whole, I don’t know how much I’ll revisit this album. Hopefully, they won’t take another six years before album four, because if they can fix the variety issues, I can see something truly amazing emerge.
Recommended tracks: The Overlord Disease, Ombra, This River Speaks
You may also like: Sermon, Novembre, Vintersorg, Athemon
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Inertial Music – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
The Moor is:
– Enrico “Ukka” Longhin (vocals, guitars, synths)
– Davide Carraro (lead guitars)
– Massimo “KKTZ” Cocchetto (bass)
– Edo Sala (drums)
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