Style: progressive metal, alternative metal, heavy progressive rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Kingcrow, Leprous, Katatonia, Riverside
Country: Italy
Release date: 6 September, 2024
What can one say of a project that shows clear passion, but only middling quality? Sometimes a steadfast creative vision alone can be sufficient to dazzle a receptive audience, but creativity can’t always make up for lackluster execution. With Nu-Man, the unremarkable Italian duo Faro (one of at least ten bands of the same name that I can find) enjoin the listener to follow along on a journey where it seems only the two band members can see the path; as a result, the unguided listener may find themselves treading off the bog path and into an uncertain mire. Faro’s alternative metal style feels uniquely reminiscent of one-album-wonder In the Silence,1 with echoes of other alt-metal prog acts such as Katatonia or heavy prog rockers like Riverside. Fans of Kingcrow should likewise recognize the emotive style of songwriting and performance, particularly from the pre-The Persistence era when Diego Marchesi’s voice felt more raw and under-produced.
Although I wouldn’t consider Faro’s sound post-rock as such, their greatest strength lies in atmosphere. They back up their main vocal and guitar parts with a healthy level of emotional power, but never an excess; there are no moments throughout Nu-Man that will leave the listener shaken from the power of what they just heard (for better or for worse), but the best parts of the album come when the band put forth just enough pathos to entice the audience into leaning just a bit closer. While he won’t win any awards for his breathy tone or limited dynamic range, vocalist Rocco De Simone shows a compelling potential for ethereality in his voice, using quiet moments and long held notes to seductively draw in the listener’s attention like a siren perched atop Mediterranean shoals. The instrumental parts contribute equally to this aesthetic, with light, reverb-shrouded guitars (again reminiscent of post-rock) and unassuming drumbeats keeping time.
There isn’t a great deal of stylistic or structural variety on display among Nu-Man’s many songs, to the point that it must take a certain talent and self-assurance to write the same song fourteen times over. In that respect, Nu-Man puts me especially in mind of A Fair Dream Gone Mad, the one outing (so far) for the aforementioned In the Silence. Despite the many similarities between the two albums, and despite the positive first impressions that still form the core of my opinions about each one, further appraisals have shown me more and more that Faro—like In the Silence before them—don’t really innovate on their core formula throughout Nu-Man, which becomes even more noticeable given its length. No matter how positive the initial impression, inevitably some tracks showcase the artist’s capabilities better than others, and by the time such an album closes on its final note, many listeners may feel disappointed that there couldn’t be more distinct high points which set themselves apart from the rest of the mish-mash.
The abundance of short tracks offers the worst of both worlds, having too little time to develop any individual track into a strong or unique presentation of its own, while the sheer number of tracks causes them to grow overly repetitive by the time Nu-Man wraps up. The best songs, such as “Crystal Cage” and “Inside” bring this ubiquitous style to its apex, and they might be memorable for that in another context, but here they only barely stand out from their peers. The sudden endings which bring many of Faro’s songs to a close (for example “Isaac” and “Crystal Cage”, among many others) also give an impression that the band members lack confidence in their compositions, flipping suddenly to a short fade-out for the final fifteen seconds without reaching any satisfying conclusion.
Normally, when we complain about the length of an album, it stems from one or more excessively long songs that pad the runtime, but Nu-Man feels overextended despite none of the tracks being above six minutes. I guess if you want to cross that one-hour runtime, sometimes fourteen shorter tracks do the trick just as well as a few long ones do; at least none of them are pointless instrumental interludes. It’s difficult to say whether Nu-Man’s excesses stem from a general overindulgence in songwriting, a belief that albums should inherently be at least an hour long, or an inability to cull one’s darlings, but Faro could have easily removed tracks seven through thirteen and been left with a punchier, more efficient listening experience that better highlights those limited moments where all the musicians’ efforts come together just right. In the end, perhaps the abrupt conclusions which cap off so many of Nu-Man’s songs bring mercy after all.
Recommended tracks: Crystal Cage, Inside, Protective, Touch
You may also like: Echoes and Signals, Mantra, In the Silence, Mother of Millions
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Andromeda Relix – Facebook | Official Website
Faro is:
– Rocco De Simone (vocals, keyboards)
– Angelo Troiano (guitars, keyboards)
With guests:
– Giacomo Pasquali (bass)
– Andrea Giovannoli (drums)
- Soon to be a two-album wonder! ↩︎
