by Frank Gualtier -- 07/10/06
What do you say about a band and their music when just about everything obvious has been said already?That's a tough one but I'm about to put my thoughts to words on Belladonna's debut album Metaphysical Attraction -- let's see what happens.
Belladonna is:
Luana Caraffa -- VOX
Dani Macchi -- Guitar
Alice -- Piano
Cherry -- Bass
Stef -- Drums
The first thought that went through my mind on hearing Belladonna was "deliciously androgynous voice". That was the clearly disambient voice of Luana Caraffa beckoning my ear's attention. Or chewing on it. Her sexually infused voice dives immediately into the primal back brain and sings noir metal lullabies to the animal that resides there with a real lean towards bitch slapping the basic instinct buttons.
Resurrect my soul is the Belladonna song that catches my attention the most with it's thought provoking verse. Here's a snippet:
"In my eschatology
You're Jesus in disguise
I am the Magdalene
You crucify"
These are impressive pros regardless of how you file them in your book of ethos and hearing them through Luana's voice -- a deeply tormented soul is chillingly conveyed.
The music is equally demanding of attention. It's basic dark rock with a metal edge and a solid beat. In some ways it's reminiscent of Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting album. The lyrics are dark -- swaying and melding lust, love, pain, death, struggle and mythos in ways that are poetically intoxicating. Yield to the draw (and you will -- this is not ambient music) and you'll find these lyrics are the obvious product of passion and intelligent philosophical thought. In fact just as I was writing that line I caught wind of Belladonna's MySpace blog in which it's stated that Luana is a "philosophy graduate and scholar". That vein runs thick as blood through all of Belladonna's verse.
Step away from the tree to look at the forest and Belladonna as a band is rock solid.
From a production standpoint Dani has done an outstanding job. I'm especially picky on the mix and the balance here is just perfect.
Belladonna's Metaphysical Attraction is a welcome addition to my collection. I highly recommend you make it part of yours.
Links for Belladonna:
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