Etoile Noire is a 5 member Naples-based Italian band consisting of Pasquale Scotti, Augusto Maiolini, Ferruccio Milanesi, Alessio Sica and Alfredo Notarloberti. Roberto Toderico from Sulphur does the background vocals. This is an EP of 5 songs.
Ascension: Very much a straight ahead 80's-type rock song with a touch of the growly-vocals so loved by death metal bands. Sleeping Black Eyes: Parts of this was a bit like listening to Judas Priest with less operatic range of vocals. I happen to like Judas Priest, but, this band shouldn't be doing songs that sound 20 years old.
Eyelids
Covering Mirrors: A song in a bit of the 'power ballad' style. The violin
is a nice touch. It deteriorates a bit at the end with more growly vocals
thrown in to the mix. Melt: A straight ahead rock song. I liked it OK,
but it didn't excite me or make me feel as if I was hearing anything new.
Point of No Return: Another straight ahead rock song. Fairly generic,
though. Nice vocals as with the rest of the songs.
The singer has a nice strong voice, but the rest of the band seemed to be a bit quiet in the mix (don't know if that is just on the sound system I listen to music on, though). Though Italian, they sing in English. I would have liked to hear a lot more originality in the music and it might have been better if they sang in Italian. I can only recommend this to fans of "traditional" rock bands, but as I said before there has been no new ground broken with this EP so it could be a disappointment.
Contact Information:
Post: Ferruccio Milanesi Via G Jannelli, 45/D, 80131, Naples,
Italy
E-Mail: etoilenoire@katamail.com
Web:
http://www.etoilenoire.com*
* Warning: the website has lots of flash and annoyance.
