Now this is different. Italy's newcomers Secretpath dare to do their own thing. With their debuting demo 'The Choice' they are crushing down some genre boundaries.

Mainly, the music can be called as darkened metal. Heavy metal with classical guitar playing style (finger picking without a plectrum) with some more extreme elements, such as growled vocals and death metal drumming, plus a bit of melodic death metal. 'Nunc Sunt Flores' is not metal, it's classical with a doomy contrabass. The music filled with melodies, that at their best can be really catchy, but at times compositions feel a tad oversized.

The production is the worst aspect about this demo, as it was done with as less money as possible. This is totally understandable, but still it affects radically negatively on the whole. The guitar's tone is too hollow and lame, but thankfully the bass and the drums sound considerably better, if still demo-ish. The vocals suffer most from the bad production, because now they feel like they were recorded for some other demo! They are powerless and unfitting. Growling is languid and dry, but surprising operatic voice simply feels too alien here. However, I still blame the production more than the vocalist's skills, because the operatic voice on 'Nunc Sunt Flores' is actually good. Weepy voice on 'Still Darkness of the Abyss' is totally awful.

The detailed artwork and including all the lyrics (well written stuff about finding oneself's true me) on pro-printed covers are good extra, but still I wonder why the band didn't use that money for a better production job.

Secretpath are trying different things without fear, but some elements are just bad. If the band could work on the better ideas heard here, it could be something really worthwhile. Now Secretpath are mor like a curiosity, but hey, that's better than another boring clone. 'The Choice' actually does not bring any band names to my mind.

Reviewed by Lane
09/20/2010 11:26