Noveria is a progressive metal band from Italy formed in 2013, releasing (to date) four albums – ‘Risen’ (2014), ‘Forsaken’ (2016), ‘Aequilibrium’ (2019), and ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’ (2023).
With ten songs across an incredible sixty-eight minutes, the Italian progressive metal masters Noveria return with their most ambitious album to date, featuring lyrical themes of a more personal nature than ever before. ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’ is a “roller coaster ride through a psychotic break, escaping a narcissistic relationship, the aftermath of surviving a heart attack, a near-death experience, and much more” – each and every song set to a musical backdrop of emphatic stature, cinematic nature, and dramatic twists and turns! Breathing life into the album, ‘Heritage’ is an atmospheric two-minute wall of sound, building tension and anticipation, leading into the nine-minute plus ‘Origins’…
…and a terrific tsunami of thunder! Noveria mixes cinematic and operatic leanings into one climactic opener – not forgetting the barnstorming heavy metal assault. ‘Origins’ is progressive, yet has a more urgent nature than I’ve come to expect from progressive metallers. Not that I’m complaining – hell no! Fast-paced, urgent and kicking ass is fine by me, along with an incredible melodic feel too, ‘Origins’ is a fantastic scene setter for what’s to follow! Over an hour of grand elegance – there may only be ten songs on offer, a phenomenal seven exceeding the six-minute mark, the longest a breathtaking twelve minutes in length! More on that one later, ’cause right now ‘Descent’ enters the fray with a little bit more menace than the previous song, the band keeping alive the overall cinematic feel the album began with. The bustling barrage of metal is heavy, addictive and head bang-able, while the band’s immense melodious intent keeps every listener endlessly hooked. Segueing straight into ‘Venom’, ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’ doesn’t stop for a breather, the band delivering a non-stop roller coaster of perfectly executed progressive metal! ‘Venom’ is heavier than everything heard so far, the band hammering the ground harder than the Norse God Thor! Every song on offer here has a hundred percent metal with a heavy progressive edge, the band more than living up to its reputation as one of the world’s premier progressive metal bands.
With its quicker tempo, ‘Revenant’ strides on with a more urgent intensity than heard previously, Noveria landing firmly and squarely in the traditional heavy metal genre, planting their collective feet on the monitor as ‘Revenant’ trots on allowing the headbangers of the world to enjoy some (proper) head banging! Also, the infectious level contained within ‘Revenant’ has just roared off the fucking charts – simply incredible! And what’s more incredible, is that all bar one of the songs on offer are just one-word titles – the more than one-word titled song, just happens to be the album’s title song ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’. And the longest on offer too, stretching to almost thirteen minutes in length! And what a song it is too – epic, dramatic and climactic are just three words that spring immediately to mind. ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’ (the song) has a very strong storytelling vibe, the band showcasing fast and slower passages, all-out metal with a weighty progressive input, and an infectious level that’s breaking out of Earth’s atmosphere into fucking space! I’m telling ya, this is a thirteen-minute tsunami of phenomenal grandeur that deserves listening to more than just once. And that goes for the whole album too! ‘Ascent’ features a jackhammer-style riff as it gets underway, adopting the more familiar stance of progressive metal, the band changing gear to include fast passages among ‘Ascent’s thrilling framework.
Song after song, ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’ (the album) has just gotten better and better, the band reinforcing their reputation as one of the most exciting Italian bands, err scrap that, one of the most exciting European bands, err no, scrap that too, one of the worlds most exciting bands around at the moment, especially in the realm of cinematic progressive metal! ‘Overlord’ takes off at a crushingly heavy pace, and for once the higher pace remains, the band cruising down the autostrada at full tilt! The album has shifted this way and that, remaining firmly in the metal zone, Noveria delivers a mesmerising myriad of styles to stun, amaze and drop jaws to the floor! And with two songs remaining, there’s still an incredible fifteen minutes of music left! An elegant keyboard intro welcomes ‘Anima’ to the fray, a more mellow and serene atmosphere than heard previously descending upon the album, the band veering toward power ballad territory! But ‘Anima’ is nowhere near a power ballad, more like a mid-temp hymn-like swagger with elements of the anthemic among its heavy-hitting nature – the band continuing their dazzling drive all around the metal genre, visiting every corner, nook and cranny! And it’s with a little sadness that the album has to come to an end, but don’t worry Noveria – I’ll be playing it many more times yet! As I’m sure every listener will too, ‘The Gates Of The Underworld’ (the album) requires many more listens to fully comprehend the magnitude of what the band have produced. A simply stunning album is brought to a close with the fastest song on offer – ‘Eternal’ an out-and-out galloper with the least progressive metal input. What a song! And what an album! A strong contender for Album Of The Year methinks.
Overall, a sparkling album of powerful and bold progressive metal, highly cinematic with dramatic moments and climactic passages.
TRACKLIST
Heritage
Origins
Descent
Venom
Revenant
The Gates Of The Underworld
Ascent
Overlord
Anima
Eternal
Noveria: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Scarlet Records
Category: Album
Country: Italy
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
