Well, Doom/Gothic Metal was born on the 90's, but still influences many bands. Works like "Draconian Times" and "Gothic" from PARADISE LOST, "Pentecost III" from ANATHEMA and "Turn Loose the Swans" from MY DYING BRIDE are masterpieces that can influence bands from now to 100 years into the future. And now, we have in hands the good work from A DAY IN VENICE, an Italian duo that creates good music on their first album, "A Day in Venice".

This work is pretty good, full of elegant and tender moments with violins along with a good and heavy rhythmic basis, great orchestrations, but beware when some more darkened moments appear, with harsh voices. Yes, they can do both with no problem at all, creating a unique form of going further into the style. Of course, they still have a long way to go, but by now, it's very, very good.

The sound production is a bit hollow and lacks more weight, but it's not something that can affect the whole work. And again your Ol' Big Daddy here must say: it's an independent album, so it can cost a high value depending of the country your band comes from. To record, mix and master an album is not as cheap as many can think so about "A Day in Venice", we can say that the level is good, but could be better.

At first, we can assume that their greatest influence could be MY DYING BRIDE from "The Angel and the Dark River" era, as songs like "The Coming" (great bass playing in an oppressive atmosphere) can point, but old Doom/Death Metal appears as well, with more harsh voices, as we can hear clearly on "Your Bread, My Flesh" , the more sophisticated and beautiful insight on "Tower of Gold" (great female vocals appears under a very good and melancholic song), and the whole album present many faces of a beautiful diamond, so hands at work, dears nephews and nieces, and discover them all.

Very good first coming and hope to hear more of them in the future.