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October 6, 2011

Kirlian Camera “Nightglory” Out on Oct-28! Viva Music Album Review

Tracklist CD1: “I’m not Sorry” * “Nightglory” * “Hymn” * “Save Me Lord (from Killing Them All) ” * “Winged Child Sitting on a Bench Watching Obscure Clouds While People Look for Shelter ” * “I Killed Judas” * “Immortal” * “I Gave You Wings – I Gave You Death” * “Black Tiger Rising” * “GethsemaneCD2: “Winged Child – Camera Version” * “Immortal – Camera Version” * “A Shark’s Tale” * “Nightglory – Camera Version” * “Quicksand City” * “Save Me LordCamera Version

About Kirlian Camera “Nightglory”:

Nightglory”, the eagerly awaited new album from Italian cult sound-wizards Kirlian Camera is a mesmerizing experience of epic proportions. Angelo Bergamini and Elena Alice Fossi have fused soundtrack-like, symphonic pomp with electronic arrangements, beats and experiments in ten anthemic compositions. Charismatic singer Fossi intonates the pieces with just the right balance between fragility and powerful pathos to drive the group’s magnum opus to maximum impact. “Nightglory” is released as a regular album CD as well as a classy limited edition with a bonus disc which contains dramatic and inspired ‘chamber music versions’ of album tracks, as well as two new songs. (source: Out of Line site)

Read about Kirlian Camera’s concert in Bucharest, promoter: Viva Music here. | Watch the video for “Nightglory” after the jump.

Kirlian Camera “Nightglory” – Viva Music Album Review:

To be released on Oct-28 with Out of Line Records, the much awaited new album from Kirlian CameraNightglory” comes just months after the single release “Ghloir Ar An Oiche” which we reviewed here. The album comes as a confirmation of the band’s invincibility and never-ending charisma and qualifies as a top discovery for 2011. Available for pre-order in various formats and packages from here, the album is one, we have to confess, that we approached both fearfully and fearlessly. Fearfully because like any album that you simply know it is going to touch a chord, you are in awe before the fact, even, and fearlessly because the music of Kirlian Camera has always had a vanquishing effect, a sense of magnificent continuance that could have not gone away. And indeed it did not. “Nightglory” is glorious, natural, and convincing. It is always relieving to see a band of historical dimensions not taking their guard down and doing the same quality material they accustomed us with, and Kirlian Camera know more than one or two things about this. And to tell the truth, not all tracks are first listens per se: “Nightglory” and “I Gave You Wings – I Gave You Death” were previewed on the “Ghloir Ar An Oiche” single; while “I’m not Sorry”, “Nightglory”, “Hymn”, “Save Me Lord (from Killing Them All)”,  “Winged Child Sitting on a Bench Watching Obscure Clouds While People Look for Shelter ”, “I Gave You Wings – I Gave You Death” and “Black Tiger Rising”, so basically 70% of the album was played live at NCN Festival (read our review of Kirlian Camera’s show at NCN Festival 2011 here).

I’m not Sorry” is the emotional debut track of the album, which evolves into powerful electro arabesques that are accompanied by Elena Fossi’s voice, sounding perfect midway between church choral and cabaret, an enticing combination that carries forth the red thread of the song, a fairy story-like self-discovery of a hero who is at the same time aloof and near. Dense with rich lyrical content, “I’m not Sorry” is a great appetizer for what Kirlian Camera have in store for us with their “Nightglory”; and it starts immediately with the title that gave the name of the album itself. If on previous listens “Nightglory” sounded great and rewarding, in the context of the entire album, it sounds amazing. It acts as a catalyst for all the contiguous and sometimes competing emotions that burn at the root of the album. “Nightglory” starts with a different thrust on the album, being preceded by the final choir sequence of “I’m not Sorry”, it seems to evoke and at the same time do away with the scenes from the previous track. Even if its value was not devised as a narrative centerpiece, it does stand out and it creates a wonderful sensation of being pampered and kept high on feelings. Its essence is being heightened by the ensuing “Hymn”, a very appropriate Ultravox cover, and not their first! Kirlian Camera’s “Hymn”, not unlike the one known from Ultravox, sounds hypnotic and grand, it lets the thick blood of the source track flow inside the thick-walled, flexible veins of an original Kirlian Camera production.

Despite its ralenti ballad-like beginning, “Save Me Lord (from Killing Them All)” is not your usual linear song, it has nooks and corners like an underwater cave in which darkness and light play equally important parts. The longest title of the album, “Winged Child Sitting on a Bench Watching Obscure Clouds While People Look for Shelter ” is a glorious anthem, one that goes hand in hand with the very pictorial metaphor of the title. To this pictorial content, the very cinematic lyrics and the cinematography of the track, from the signs of alarm and the first raindrops, the disguised anguish that lies in the soul of all the anonymous persons from the song’s litany. The great ambient of the track is heightened with the very vocal and eloquent chorus, bursting in as the melody ascends from beguiling calm to storming revolt. And after the appeasing, yet thorny “I Killed Judas”, it is time for two extremely beautiful and heartfelt songs, “Immortal” and “I Gave You Wings – I Gave You Death” to swerve and recline the plan to a scintillating explosion of minute musical arrangements. It is no wonder that “I Gave You Wings – I Gave You Death” was selected in this summer’s single preview, its zest and refinement are truly indicative of the album’s overall satisfaction. The thoroughly convincing instrumental “Black Tiger Rising”, which makes such a classical and classy intro (and was indeed used as such in their recent NCN performance) is followed by the second and last cover of the album, from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wonderful “Gehtsemane” from “Jesus Christ Superstar”, which, without knowing the source, sounds like a Kirlian Camera production in itself, fitting like a glove the band’s excellent abilities and creativity, and continuing the Messiah metaphors that abound in their album.

Nightglory” is a profoundly creative and diligent album. It would be wrong to call it a major achievement because it adds up to a very clean record of great releases from Kirlian Camera; but it would definitely not be wrong to call it a major achievement if you take into account the creative impetus and general relevance for the music scene. An act of very humble introspection into human nature, “Nightglory” is a top shelf product from one of the bands worthy of your utmost and consistent admiration.

Watch the video for Kirlian Camera’s “Nightglory:

Kirlian Camera – Official Site | on Facebook

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