STARBYNARY „Divina Commedia: Paradiso”

Art Gates Records, 2020

Music: Progressive Heavy Metal
Website:
https://www.facebook.com/Starbynary/
https://www.starbynary.com
Duration: 65:00 (11 tracks)
Country: Italy

STARBYNARY was brought to life in 2013 by musicians from Trieste and Milan. “Divina Commedia: Paradiso” is the third part of a conceptual triptych inspired by Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”, the greatest literary work of the Middle Ages. Earlier parts are “Inferno” (“Hell”) from 2017 and “Purgatorio” (“Purgatory”) from 2019. STARBYNARY’s debut album was the album “Dark Passenger” from 2014.

The music on “Paradiso” is progressive heavy-metal with a lot of emphasis to “progressive style”. We find here a lot of dynamic heavy, but even more progressive playing. There are also fragments referring to classical music. Italians set themselves very ambitious aims in their work. They have a very good control of their instruments. In addition to the typical metal guitars, bass and drums, very interesting keyboards were used: piano, keyboard, harpsichord sounds. There are some interesting keyboard and guitar dialogues on the album. And also many successful guitar and keyboard solos.

The vocals are very diverse: a man and a woman singing in English and Italian, sometimes reciting, in addition male and mixed choirs, a children’s choir.

Here and there were used brass, flute and string instruments. The compositions are varied, with a lot of changes in the nature of the music and moods. They require a very good playing technique, in which the Italians are good.

However, something is wrong with this album. A very demanding music project was not entirely successful. The final effect is not up to the musicians’ abilities. The music is interesting, aspiring, but not captivating.

At times the compositions are overwhelming, without pace or lifeless. This is because – in my opinion – they are too organized, too well thought out. Maybe there are too few interesting melodies.

The album lacks subtle, attractive element and charisma.

Despite all my complaints, “Divina Commedia: Paradiso” is – thanks to the good technique and the multitude of means used – a valuable album, worth to listening. It remains to hope that on subsequent releases STARBYNARY will use its full potential, which it undoubtedly has.