Style: progressive rock, alternative rock (clean vocals)
Review by: Chris
Country: Italy
Release date: 31 August, 2020
Alt-Prog can be a bit hit or miss for me sometimes, in that there are a group of artists that I like and if a new band I run into reminds me too much of one of those without differentiating itself, I really don’t revisit it. I definitely found that Faro toed that line pretty heavily with their new album Luminance. It’s the kind of thing you expect from alt-prog drawing from the vein of Porcupine Tree and A Perfect Circle, though it does have its moments of distinctly more heaviness than those bands.
The album begins with “Pure” with some extremely long decaying reverb-laden guitar chords. Pulsing drums and heavier distorted chords follow soon after to ensure you this is indeed a heavier alt project. Once the distorted guitars disappear again and the space is taken up by the bass, the vocals peek their head in and also just very much sit exactly where you expect vocals to sit in a mix and an arrangement of this genre. The singer himself sounds very much like a mix of Jeremy Enigk (of Sunny Day Real Estate) and Geddy Lee (of Big Dirty Band). Both of these singers can be a bit grating to some people, and while it sits comfortably for me, I know some people would be a bit bothered by it. Throughout the remainder of the songs you get more genre staples with moody guitar double stops, palm muted layers combined with the return of the initial clean chord theme, and slightly effected vocals on top.
After the first song you pretty much have the outline of the album, it just does that for 7 more tracks with varying degrees of heavy guitars and higher register alternative rock choruses. I will highlight a couple places, such as the chorus of “December” which has a really nice energy and movement of the guitar lines underneath. Additionally “Tears” has a really catchy singable chorus which sits somewhere between a Rush chorus and a Deftones style back-beat. “Down” has a brief flirtation with almost harsh vocals over an almost nu style breakdown, but this is just a fleeting diversion from the rest of the song.
In terms of sound Luminance is a fine sounding album, though I have gripes with the way the kick and snare sound throughout, both of them being extremely focused and small, which makes them feel very disconnected from everything else in the mix which is either effected or mixed back in order to keep a steady atmosphere. The guitars are standard fare though probably on the weaker side of that spectrum. The mix as a whole sits pretty well with itself in the more ambient sections but lacks a certain punch in the heavier sections as the guitars are a bit too smooth with a very classic style distortion. Overall this is a fine album, but I don’t think it’s anything spectacular. It has some fun moments though, so it would be worth checking out if you really like alt-prog.
Recommended tracks: December, Tears, Autumn
Recommended for fans of: A Perfect Circle, Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Andromeda Relix – Website | Facebook
Faro is:
– Rocco De Simone (vocals)
– Fabrizio Basco (guitars)
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