First of all I don't understand what their name means so please people... send an email explaining me what the heck is going on. I knew Scala Mercalli from their previous demo My Daemons, that apparently was part of this full length release (and also featured the same artwork).
The band was formed back in 1992. Their first official release came with their debut demo titled Hellbringer in 1995 that was followed in 1999 with Gargoyle. In 2003 another demo followed My Daemons. With that demo and lots of live shows the band got a contract with Italian label AB Records for the release of their debut full length album.
Scala Mercalli walk in the fields of a genre quite popular in the Mediterranean countries - power metal with a dash of thrash / epic metal here and there. OK so they are not the first neither the last act in the genre and definitely they cannot be considered innovative but their music is pretty good. Boosted by a good production (check the bass sound - cool) their rough power metal is rather interesting and many of the songs can be considered generally good but as a package it is quite obvious there is a huge distance the band needs to cover before they can make a difference in the genre. What I found the biggest disadvantage in the band is the, annoying at times, screamer vocalist that lucks the necessary color in his voice.
In conclusion Scala Mercalli need a lot of work. They are in the right direction but there are several steps need to be taken. Fans of the genre should check them out.