Of Infinity - The Essence Of Infinity
2004 unsigned
by Shev

Quick Summary:
Of Infinity has been around since 1999, but has only now in 2004 put out their first demo, The Essence Of Infinity.  When this first came to me in the mail, just by looking at the jacket I couldn't help but think this was going to be some kind of Opeth clone mixed with goth.  Not being a huge goth fan, I reluctantly gave this a spin.  Looks can be deceiving as this is much more of female-vocals-fronted heavy melodic outfit with slight influences of doom, black metal, and goth.  Nazareth Sando, the man in charge of guitars and electric drumming, actually has ties to the U.S. black metal band, Fallen Empire.

Alessandra Zinicola comes across as a mix of Anneke van Giersbergen and Björk, displaying fantastic range and adding the all around ambient sound to the music.  Adding a level of complexity, the vocals are sometimes layered over one another which actually seems to detract from her ability, which when teamed with the seemingly misplaced keyboards at times, can give parts an overall confusing sound.  These interludes are few and far between as the experienced guitarwork and thundering bass are dominant most of the time.  Even though these three have been working together for the previous five years, there also seems to be a feeling of newness.  Almost as if they are trying to find their groove, discover it temporarily, and then loose it again down the line.  Bottom line is this...musical ability and style more than makes up for the negatives, and while this doesn't exactly rival the likes of Lacuna Coil and Dark Tranquility, fans of heavy melodic metal would have to be mentally ill to not look forward to a full length's worth of material from these guys. 

Website:  www.ofinfinity.com

Song Summaries:

1. The Voice Without - Interesting way to kick this off.  Reminds me of Borknagar meets The Gathering complete with frantic, thundering drums and overly gentle chorus.  The layered vocals and twinkling star keyboards are a bit much, though.  I'm sure this would translate to a great song live, but on here...  C+
2. Shadow Of A Lie - Slower, thicker, and less complex.  I like this style of theirs so much better except for the chorus singing, "Who am I?  What am I?  What have I become?" as the guitarist just squeals away.  That makes me want to put my fist through walls.  He redeems himself with some pretty decent work from 5:03 - 5:32, and overall this is their best song on here.  B
3. It's Only For Forever - Taking a bluesy, less intricate approach, It's Only For Forever excels at building emotion through what essentially boils down to a jam session.  Alessandra Zinicola should stay away from those low notes, throw in some more high one's, and overall exercise her range more.  These lyrics aren't my cup of tea, but she obviously shows a lot of vocal dexterity here.  The chorus being this song's major downfall, I certainly wouldn't mind if the outro piano was a little more upbeat to compliment their least epic song with the most energy.  B-

Average Song Rating:  B-
Overall Album Rating:  B-