Detailed Reviews [Anno Mundi - 2018 - "Rock In A Danger Zone"]

Prolusion. Italian band ANNO MUNDI have been around for a decade, starting out in 2009 and with three albums released since then as far as I can tell: Information about the band is scarce on the internet. "Rock in a Danger Zone" is their most recent album, and was self-released towards the tail end of 2018.

Analysis. Vintage era hard rock and metal appears to be the main foundation for this band, and you won't find much if anything with roots after the mid 1980's on this album. The likely main sources of inspiration are easy to trace, and this is a band I suspect really treasure the bands whose sounds they tip their hats too. Other than a few cinematic interludes, the main parts of this band are twofold. On one hand you have songs that fairly directly reference vintage era Black Sabbath, and on the other hand you have material with a closer reference to the likes of Deep Purple. And fairly often they will mix and blend those sounds into each of the songs. A song like Blackfoot focus in closer on the Deep Purple sound, with some slide guitar as flavoring giving this particular song a wee bit of a US hard rock feel as well, but ultimately this is a guitar and organ combo driven affair, complete with Ian Gillan style lead vocals. Megas Alexandros, on the other hand, is a closer fit to the Black Sabbath sound, albeit on this song with a gnarlier and grittier guitar sound, a wee bit of early 80's metal added as flavoring, and clever use of Mellotron like voice sounds to emphasize the dark mood of the song. The more Sabbath flavored sounds tends to dominate for the rest of the studio tracks, albeit with some organ details here and there reminding us that this band is more than a mere one trick pony. The more Deep Purple oriented escapades returns more in force in the live medley that concludes the album though, which kind of adds a feeling of this album going full circle due to this - cue the song Blackfoot as the first proper song on this album. Personally I find Anno Mundi to be a competent band within their chosen context. There are no killer songs at hand though, and while the instrumental sections are the most enjoyable parts of this album by far, some subpar vocals balance this out the other way. Mainly due to heavy a defined accent I should add, which will always be a divisive feature. Some don't care all that much about it, while others will find them to be detrimental.

Conclusion. Anno Mundi doesn't provide us with anything new or extraordinarily well made on their most recent album. This is a band with a passion for vintage era hard rock and metal though, and those who share their passion for that type of music in general and that have a soft spot for classic era Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in particular might want to track down this album for a listen.

Progmessor: June 27th 2019
The Rating Room