Formed in 2009 as a Nightwish cover band, the Trieste quartet consisting of Cecilia Petrini (vocals), Stefano Sain (vocals), Lorenzo Pasutto (guitars) and Davide Sportiello (bass guitar, keyboards) took their own path in 2011 with "Spiders And The Butterfly" EP, followed by the debut "Paint the World" (2013) and "Domino" (2017) the latter one landing them 2nd spot on iTunes Italy metal chart. This 3rd album retains their symphonic gothic edge, with dual female/male, Cecilia/Stefano vocals but it borrows liberally from melodeath stylings of Soilwork, Scar Symmetry, In Flames or Omnium Gatherum atop of Nevermore-ic crushing verse riff heaviness, with a wonderful sense of melody and balance. The primarily example is the excellent "Facts, Words, Sand, Stone" with the excellent memorable chorus echoing Kate Bush’s "Running Up That Hill".

The album sounds both powerfully metal and artificially techno-like (think Scar Symmetry on "Pitch Black Progress") which is no doubt due to lyrical concept regarding human struggle between maintaining personal integrity and projecting a digital "online" image (could this be while the title track recalls Fear Factory’s "Replica"?) whereby the latter tends to take over (you think this is my real name then you’ve never heard of Iron Maiden or Megadeth!). The rest of the songs mostly keep up this fairly high songwriting standard, occasionally deviating into a ballad-ic Killswitch Engage-sque territory (think "The End Of Heartache") especially on "Absolution", or In Flames’ "Clayman" (Compare "Immortals" to "Square Nothing"). The real surprise comes with the closing perfect "The Circle" which combines all of aforementioned influences into one progressive Iron Maiden-like gorgeously memorable tune.

With all the superlatives it would seem there’s nothing left to do but run to the hills, excuse me, store, but there are a few issues. Firstly, I already mentioned a few examples of influences with a total recall ratio above average but "Blood Like Water", as excellent as it is, is a little too close for comfort rubbing against Sentenced’s "With Bitterness And Joy" in the chorus, even if "Crimson" album was released a whopping 19 years ago. Secondly, a couple of tracks such as "Zero One" are very formulaic, in a style similar to Soilwork’s "Stabbing The Drama" or "Sworn To The Great Divide" – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, sometimes solo, sometimes repeat, later alligator, with songs unremarkable and forgettable as soon as they end (Break The Surface). Thankfully, these are scarce and they are surrounded by either standouts or tracks of different mood or pace, whereby the score is not significantly affected.

An enjoyable if familiar experience, "Out Of Connection" does not blow away but neither does it dissapoint recalling such works as Soilwork’s "Natural Born Chaos", Scar Symmetry’s "Holographic Universe" but also Delain’s "The Human Contradiction", comfortably straddling symphonic/gothic metal and melodic death metal. I suggest using the closing "The Circle" as a gateway and a blueprint for the follow-up.

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