Using an experimental insight is a very good thing when you are trying to create a musical work in the Metal genre. Musicians with a long story in Metal can have a very good idea of what they want from their musical work. This is the case of ARDUINI/BALICH, the new work of Victor Arduini (former member from FATES WARNING, MISFITS and others) and the vocalist Brian Balich. Their first album, called "Dawn of Ages", is really a very good first coming. The band's main musical style is a form of Doom Metal with very good melodies and weight, without sounding as raw as some bands from the same genre love to sound. Here, the melodic lines of the songs are the most important feature, but they try to use an experimental insight in some points, to add personality on what they are doing. Ok, by now they are a promise, but how it sounds good to our ears...

The production was done by Victor, with the help of Nick Bellmore on the sound engineering, and the mastering was done by Zeuss. So, the sound quality is really excellent, with a very good balance between the sound clarity, aggressiveness, weight and melodies. To listen to such a sound quality from a Doom Metal band actually is something really different, because some bands insist to sound as moldy and raw as they can to be like those ancients from the 70s. But ARDUINI/BALICH seems to do things as they want, not following any patterns.

Nick Bellmore played drums on "After All (The Dead)", being the guest musician of the album. The songs are, in the greater part, of long duration, but being very good. The best ones are the nasty and bitter "The Fallen" (with excellent guitars), the extremely wonderful rhythmic work on "Into Exile" (filled with very good tempo changes and perfect vocals), the experimental touches and very good vocals of "The Wraith", and the excellent heavy moments and keyboards' parts on "Beyond the Barricade". There's also a bonus track on the Bandcamp version: a BLACK SABBATH song, "After All (the Dead)" that gained an elegant outfit.

They are a very good band, indeed, and I hope they will return for another album as soon as possible.