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The band was founded in 2006 in Florence and they only needed to find a bassist - which they found in Niccolò. As soon as the line-up was completed they started writing songs, they name bands like Nevermore, Opeth, Katatonia and Death as their influences. The Archetype played quite a few live shows and in 2008 it was time to enter the studio. The quintet recorded The Fallen Grace, later in 2009 they founded a management and months later signed a deal. Now they step into the limelight. Singer Gianluca switches between powerful clean vocals and mean growls, and it's mainly the growls which give them a death metal edge. The opener The Fall leads you into the album and it really has some progressive elements and guitars which will remind you of Nevermore. Lyrically they tell the story of a man, his insanity, his killings and his moments of sanity where he feels frustrations, coz he's aware that he can't stop this madness. At the end of the story he dies. Hammering drums and heavy riffs lead you into Ghost, then a slower, more melodic passage before they storm off into a thrashy, guitar-driven passage. With more then 7 minutes it's one of the long tracks and so you can expect to be taken onto a sonic journey. The following Ethereal begins with acoustic guitars and clean, melodic vocals, but here Gianluca can't convince me... Anyway, the pick up speed a bit and change from acoustic guitars to heavy riffing - for awhile. Towards the end the song gets heavier and more aggressive, so it shows almost the whole spectrum of The Archetype's sound. But Blinded By Sand shows you to their black metal influences, but after a black metal-ish opening they return to death'n'thrash. Gianluca's vocals - the clean ones - are obviously influenced by Warrel Dane, but you also get some deep growls. The guitars of Giordano and Alessandro not just fire heavy riffs, they also add some melodic leads. With Twisted Visions they have a track with more then 11 minutes running time, and again time to show the different facets of their sound. The closer Memoria kicks off slowly with acoustic guitar and vocals, here Gianluca's vocals are emotional and more expressive. The song has a symphonic edge and with the Italian words it really sticks out. Not a typical The Archetype tune, but one of the highlights!
The Italians try to combine their varying influences which they do quite good. And even at the long tracks they manage to keep the listeners attention with twists and turns. But I miss some memorable melodies, something which sticks.... The Tuscany quintet has the skills, they mainly have to work on details. Unfortunately the majority wants English lyrics, but like many times before I can just notice that songs in the band's mother tongue are more intense... Personally I would like to hear some of their heavier stuff with Italian words, and see if the intensity is still there.
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