Raving Season are a band from Italy that plays an atmospheric form of gothic/doom metal with death metal vocals and this is a review of their 2013 album "Amnio" which was released by My Kingdom Music.
Starting off the album is Turandot" which starts off really slow than the death metal growls kick in bringing in some heavier and melodic riffing with the dimension turning into a heavy bass guitar riff, symphonic keyboards and etherial sounding clean singing female gothic vocals as well as a dark and melodic guitar lead which then goes more into a whisper before the guitar riffs and growls start kicking in again returning the song reverting back to being heavy doom/death while still use the clean singing which gives the recording alot more variety and dimension.
Song two "Dusk Dance" starts out being really soft with some heavy bass guitar and clean playing before the operatic vocals start kicking as well as some violins and heavy guitar riffs which result in the return of the growls, melodic guitar leads before the music switches to some semi blast beats from the drumming before switching to a more symphonic direction with the music going back to being soft while adding in the growls in those sections to make the music sound alot more powerful.
Song three "My Last Murderer" starts of with a melodic guitar lead before switching to some whispers and heavy doom metal riffing, than the operatic vocals start kicking in for a few seconds and then they switch to the growls as well as some heavy and slow drum playing before going into a more soft direction with some depressing keyboards, gothic vocals which add in some melancholic elements before switching back to being semi heavy while utilizing some spoken word parts and melodic riffing before the song goes back to being heavy and dark with some evil sounding growls while also combing some progressive and psychedelic keyboards.
Song four "Silent Lake" starts out being soft and depressive with some clean singing and powerful bass riffs which continue that way for a few minutes before the symphonic keys, death metal growls and heavy doom riffs start kicking in before going back into a more soft direction along with some more prog elements before the song starts mixing the soft and heavy elements together which lead to a very powerful and melodic sounding guitar lead.
Song five "Restless Rain(il rumore della pioggia)" starts off with some soft acoustic guitar playing before switching to being more heavy, atmospheric and operatic which then leads to the growling which results in the song getting alot heavier and darker before switching back to the acoustic guitars for a few seconds than the melodic riffing and gothic vocals start kicking inn along with some melodic guitar leads.
Song six "My Darkest Season (pt.2)" starts of with some soft sounding classical guitar playing, before the powerful bass lines and operatic vocals kick in, then the heavy and melodic guitar riffs kicking off with some symphonic elements which result in the song going into a more depressive gothic direction before shifting into some melodic metal riffs and deep death metal growls which in turn lead to a melodic guitar solos as well as the song combining melody and heaviness together to make the song sound alot more dark and heavy before reverting back to the classical guitars which use finger picking which close the song.
Song seven "Testament" starts off being slow, symphonic and heavy along with the operatic vocals before going into a more melodic direction which then results in the return of the death metal growls before the gothic keyboards kick in which the heavy guitar riffs sound even more dark while also retaining a great amount of melody with the solos as well as the riffing changing back and forth to heavy and soft elements which result with the operatic vocals returning as well as the song closing with some soft keyboards.
Song eight "Suspended In Spiral" starts off really heavy with some dark keyboards and whispers as well as going into a more symphonic direction before the heavy death metal growls start kicking inn along with some melodic guitar leads and spoken word parts before going back into a heavy and symphonic doom/death metal sound which then results into some powerful bass playing and soft atmospheric elements before the switch back to being very heavy and dark along with a semi blast from the drums.
Song nine "Annio" starts of with some programming and 80's style new wave/gothic keyboards along with some whispers and spoken word parts before the clean singing gothic/dark wave vocals start kicking inn as well as some acoustic guitars which enhance the dark wave elements of the song which continue that way for a few minutes before the powerful and melodic guitar solo starts kicking inn.
In my opinion Raving Season are a very great sounding gothic, atmospheric doom/death metal band with a great production where you can hear all of the musical instruments and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out t his recording. RECOMMENDED BUY.
