Vitriol – Vitriol (EP)                                8.5/10

Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem.

Not to be confused with the bands in France or the U.S. with the same name (both of them split up, the American band recently) or My Vitriol from England, Italy's Vitriol derives its name from this Renaissance era phrase, which is usually translated as 'Enter the bowels of the Earth and through rectification will you find the hidden stone'.  It is a fundamental part of alchemy (in particular, the Magnum Opus - the creation of the Philosopher's Stone) and has connections to Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and other Hermetic organizations.

Vitriol turns this into a concept album, a musical journey that follows Knowledge as he searches for his beloved Truth, meeting other 'characters' along the way, like Madness in “Devoured” or Faith in “Never Again”.  The booklet is vital to follow the whole story, although having it in hand does not guarantee success.  Meant to represent Knowledge's notes, several of the printed lines aren't sung (most of the stuff that is printed in grey) and of the parts that are sung, some are hard to make out, especially when Vitriol layers multiple vocals together.  Additionally, a few of the lines are printed in a different order and they don't reflect choruses or other repeated parts.  It's going to take several listens, ideally with simultaneous readthroughs, to grasp what Vitriol's doing here.

Founded by Francesco Lombardo (bass, backing vocals) and Michele Panepinto (drums, backing vocals), Vitriol plays an above average breed of progressive metal, mixing together older prog rock with modern metal, even throwing in a hint of Iron Maiden during "My Journey".  Allesandro Sanfilippo's guitar and Francesco's bass are well done, complimented by keyboards by Pierangelo Carvello, including some soloing.  Michele's drumming is equally good, but the cymbals seem to be a bit lost in the mix – they're not completely buried; it's more like they've been rendered quiet and dull.  While I do appreciate that they aren't slicing through the rest of the music, I have found that I do miss their added brightness in the songs.

Gianluca Pappalardo's speaking voice has a thick accent, but not enough to make it hard to understand what he's saying.  Like most, when he's singing, his accent isn't as noticeable, but there are some mispronunciations along the way.  Most of the time, he sings with a soft voice, bringing out more forceful vocals a few times, while a few of the songs have a filter applied to the backing vocals that gives them a sort of artificial sound.  With the exception of guest vocalist Alessia Scavingi as Truth, each character is sung by Gianluca, which doesn't make the album any easier to follow.  It's not that big a deal though, since the story is from Knowledge's point of view.

With five songs, plus an introductory track "Whisper", it's hard to pick out one that stands out from the rest, but "Butterflies" might be the one to point out.  They're all good, but this is the song that made me want to hear this album.  The closest to a ballad of the album, the song sounds almost surreal and features Gianluca's best vocals, as well as a return to the filtered backing vocals at the end.  The cymbals even seem to be given enough room, not sounding as muted as on the other songs.

The final song is listed as "The Descent" in the booklet, but as "The Discent" on the back cover and Vitriol's Myspace profile.  As of now, I'm assuming it's supposed to be the former, given the album's story and origins of the band/album name.  Just one line after mentioning vitriol (and using the Latin words from the phrase before this point) in the song, Gianluca actually spells out VITRIOL at 5:40. 

I almost lost it at that point...

Despite a few flaws and one major misstep, Vitriol has delivered a rather interesting album.  While a bit deep, the story isn't too complicated and at the same time isn't wholly faithful to the alchemical process, either way you look at it (the physical side or the philosophical side).  It's a great start and I look forward to what Vitriol can do from this point on, whether it is another story spanning several songs or a more 'regular' album without a concept tying things together.

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