Italy is fertile ground for metal and no, MANESKIN is not metal. I'm talking about epic symphonic metal bands like RHAPSODY OF FIRE, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE and the eternal LACUNA COIL. Themes about quests, love and often religion that are well recognized and appreciated by fans all over the world. Italy knows how to make good metal like they make good pasta. One of the new metal exports from Milan is NEVER OBEY AGAIN introducing to the world their debut album The End Of An Era. First albums are usually a  make or break for every band and you have to show enough to keep people interested in subsequent works.With a beautiful lady as a singer, and a bunch of men looking angry as the background band, let's see what NEVER OBEY AGAIN brings to the table. 

The album starts with a little eerie piano instrumental called “The End Of An Era” and goes full electronic keyboard  afterwards. The instrumental is short and it doesn't bother me but I am still trying to understand these small instrumental sections in a lot of metal albums recently. Most of them do not add anything to the listening experience and are usually forgettable. With an ethereal beginning we got the real first tune of the album with “The Storm”, and the band immediately shows their quality. Good production and a very well composed and performed tune. With mood changes, strong chorus and melody, the band shows that despite their first output, these are well seasoned performers. Good start. The song is not a 7 minute epic and this is also good for a first song in my opinion. The album follows with “Toxic Feelings”. With a more electronic introduction the band suddenly opens the crunchy riff section and presents us with another great  and well seasoned epic rock tune.  Melodies are top notch as well as musicianship and you can feel that great care was taken in the lyrics as well. This one has a Youtube video.

 Guitar players Alessandro Tuvo and Alex Pedroti are not the flashy guitar solo types (nothing wrong with that), but they serve the songs with great riffs and melodic interludes despite the lack of guitar solos so far. The same can be said about “Take Care Of You”. With some more electronic music touches mixed with distorted guitar, the song still takes you for a ride. We reach the halfway point with “Stronger” that has electronic effects and keyboards added  as well and a little rap in the mid section. Yes, I said rap. Spitting some lines kind of thing. The band shows that they are not afraid to explore different flavors in their music. Beautiful chorus and a total EVANESCENCE vibe. “Wake Up” starts with a great riff  and a sweet voice warns you of the bogeyman in your nightmares. You can see clearly that a heavy metal epic style mixed with some elements of electronic music is the band's cup of tea and they explore this wisely. We have a nice guitar solo on this one for a change. All songs have great keyboard arrangements but why is there no keyboardist credited? Video on Youtube available.

 With a more pop introduction that you probably have heard something similar before, “Underdog” starts. This is the type of song that uses the pop parts with sudden rampages of epic metal work mixed. Great guitar riffs. At some point in the end it came to my head a MADONNA type of song with heavy guitars. Yes I said MADONNA. Yes I am old. We go back to some traditional heavy rock riffs with “What If”. I am gladly surprised with the great music structure of each tune. Smart and varied riffs, really good melodies and mood swings. Everything is held together flawlessly by the solid drums of Matteo Malchiodi and the discreet but competent bass of Cristiano Trappoli. Another Youtube video to check.

We get closer to the end of the album with “9:45”. This time (no pun intended) a more hard rock approach that reminds me of the 80’s hard rock style. Like VIXEN or HEART but with heavier guitars. The listener will be pleasantly surprised with the singer Carolina Bertelegni. With a great voice range and flexibility, she is the focal point of the band not only by her great looks but also by her commanding performance in all songs. Her voice is more pop oriented than operatic like in LACUNA COIL and this is good. The band leaves a cover of “Zombie” from the CRANBERRIES to close the album. Despite the simple and somewhat obvious choice for a cover, the band does not compromise.

Nice debut for a band that just started recently and their album is a solid first work that should have definitely a supporting tour to show their chops.. I look forward to checking some live performances on the internet and to see how they progress. My advice would be perhaps some more guitar solos and some openings for the bass to shine. Compositions are great and very catchy.