With one more Italian band sending a promo CD for a review, my sweaty hands press the "play" button. I was ready to face hell, but something strange happened. What My Kingdom Music claims to be Progressive Deathcore (wtf?) hits me with a pure Progressive/Power Metal riff that has nothing to do with the extreme scene.

And then, the vocals and the groove enter to change everything. SUPERBIA's debut album "Overcoming The Pain" actually seems to mix elements from the Power/Progressive and the technical Death Metal scene pretty well offering some really interesting moments. I admit this experiment sounds a bit messy at some parts, but after a few listening sessions you'll realize that everything falls in place eventually and starts making sense. The band manages not to exceed the limits when it comes to technique, making the album sound solid and not some kind of boring showoff and offers 9 well worked compositions with elements that may appeal to almost every Metal fan out there.

Of course SUPERBIA is not the next big thing or something extraordinary, but with "Overcoming The Pain", the Italian metallers manage to offer something that many bands can't, something interesting for a wide variety of listeners. Extra points for Gemini's passionate vocals, which to be honest kind of reminded me of UNLEASHED's Johnny Hedlund at times. Negative aspects of this album? Well, I guess that would be the totally plastic production it features and makes the album lack of strong and warm sound.