DANTESCO hails from Puerto Rico and has been active as a band for the last five years. Their second full-length album herein reviewed, Pagano, initially came out as a self-financed release by the band themselves for the American territories, while they decided to license it to Italy's Cruz Del Sur label for a European release.
DANTESCO's blend lies on the doom/epic side of 'true' heavy Metal. For those aware of the label's roster plus some relevant European fests like Keep It True (Germany), Up The Hammers (Greece), Play It Loud (Italy) or Swordbrothers (Germany), they'll surely understand what kind of sound/style they should expect. Have not listened to DANTESCO's first album, 2006's De La Mano De La Muerte, so I cannot end up to any comparisons for better evaluation, Still, giving the CD the first couple of spins, I clearly can understand the tendency towards the SOLITUDE AETURNUS/DOOMSWORD/CANDLEMASS style with influences from European legends like BLACK SABBATH or MERCYFUL FATE; some classic guitar parts will guide you to the band's native land, too. The grooves are rather mid-paced or slow-crawling with some interesting riffs and tradition-guided lead parts. The vocals of Erico are not typical. In parts he's singing like a Latin priest while he ends up dramatically screaming out. I don't know if he sounds weird to my ears and only, but he did not finally convince me. Is it the accent? Could it be the language? Dunno...
The sequence of the songs is well-planned, while the riffing will not let you down; yet, nothing exciting, plus the production...as concluded by the above-mentioned facts. I did not get thrilled with Pagano, while it is better for any Epic Metal fan to get a preliminary taste via the band's MySpace page first. I Came From Hell and Gesthemane are added as exclusive bonus tracks for Europe and - the former carrying an At The Gallow's End trademark mixed with a MANILLA ROAD taste - do 'upgrade' my final rating.