ANAMNESI is a Italian extreme one man metal band that include ambient, progressive, black, death, and symphonic elements into their sound.  "Caurus," is their fifth full length album."Caurus," is an album that takes all these elements, throws them into a mixture and spits them back out in exciting and unpredictable ways.   Throughout the nine tracks and forty three minute run time, I was never able to guess what might come next or what style would be presented to me.  The instrumentation sounds great with the album's clear production, particularity the drums with their robust double bass and crisp snare.

The album opens with "Memorie Di Un Naufrago pt. 1," a track that consists of spoken word and ambient sounds.  It immediately leads into the first proper track, "Caurus I." This track doesn't waste any time in showing off the band's ability ,to change styles on a dime.  The first thirty seconds or so are more along the lines of more old school, traditional metal with a fine balance between heavy and melody. The song flows effortlessly into more extreme territory, specifically black and death the metal.  The keyboards accent the song perfectly-it is symphonic but not overly drenched.  Rather than take over the music, the keys support it.

The next track, "Albatro," is built around quick, short bursts of guitar and the blackened death growls barking over it but with the cadence of spoken word, much like ROTTING CHRIST. The first part of the song is faster paced with a caged fury but the later half is more methodical, especially the bass guitar that lends a prog feel to the rest of the track. "A Pora," has an exciting and melodic beginning with keys and ambient noises spilling over into the music as the vocals kick in.  The snare drum is especially potent, driving the song ever forward.  I really like how the song goes from whiplash speed to melodic passages.

The highlight of the album is the second and third parts of "Caurus."  The second part is filled with subtle but still lush darkly lit melodies set to an urgent backdrop of drums and guitar riffs.  The leads are outstanding and flow in and out of the melodies expertly.  The keys accent the song's various nooks and crannies, adding in little details that make the song even more rich and full. The song's ending signifies the third parts beginning, which is the same vein but a little more theatrical, overall, as the song jumps back and forth between fast riffs and sweeping keys.

ANAMNESI's "Caurus," is an album with a fresh sound that takes the listener into a musical world full of ever changing landscapes, without and ounce of bloat or pretentiousness. For a heavy and dark ride that is also playful and imaginative, look no further.