ANTINOË – The Fold

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://antinoe.bandcamp.com/

Far removed from the world of metal music yet infinitely darker, more haunting, and relentlessly bleaker is this mesmerizing output titled The Fold by the Spanish artist known as Antinoë, which is the solo vehicle of the immensely talented neo-classical pianist and vocalist Teresa Marraco. Although she does have black metal credentials (she recorded the piano and keyboard parts for Dimmu Borgir’s live staging of Det Nye Riket at the renowned Beyond the Gates festival a few years ago just to list one example), her own compositions veer toward a world of hypnotic melodies and ethereal vibes where the intimate, introspective, and reflective blend effortlessly with the subtly ominous and infinitely brooding. Touches and glimmers of folk music, baroque pop, dark ambient music, and to a lesser extent electronica also seep into the mix and add colors and textures to the proceedings, but The Fold is essentially an opus that takes neo-classical music to somewhere it has never been before, and which therefore emphasizes its innovative qualities and why it stands out in all the right ways.

Every little aspect of this 12-track offering is spiritually enriching and not a single second feels redundant. Being perfectly structured and containing just the right dose of dynamics, Marraco’s work keeps the listener firmly transfixed throughout, and its occasionally dreamy otherness comes across as so original and unique that it stands apart from everything else out there that you might associate with the phrase “darkness and melancholy” – it simply looks, sounds, and feels different, which goes back to why it is outright unshakable. My first thought upon listening to this mesmerizing record was how beautiful and ingenious its songs were, and also how its content exuded an iridescent, highly emotional power that defied description. That particular feeling grows every time I listen to the album. For that very reason, you should dive deeply into this contemplative piece of musical genius on your own once it hits the street in November. Also, make sure you pay attention to its overall theme of grief as that adds an extra layer to the affair.