FIVE SIDED ROOM

Five Sided Room are an Italian Progressive/Gothic/Power Metal band. The delightfully monikered 'Aurora Rosa' handles the vocals on this disc 'The Fifth Side'. I'm not entirely sure that she was chosen for her vocal talents, or for the fact that, nowadays, it's a pre-requisite to have a female frontperson if you are a 'gothic' band. Anyway, whatever the choice, she's not perfectly suited to the material. I decline to call her a bad singer, because she's not at all (just not quite good enough to pull off the more operatic sections). Musically, the rest of the band isn’t too shoddy either, although some songs sound like they required a couple more takes to tighten things up a bit. The songs are well-composed, if a little over-long on occasion ('Ragnarok', with your nu-metal elements and ill-conceived shouty backing vocals, I'm looking at you). Opener 'Black Maiden' is decent enough to drag you in; albeit not the strongest song here. I don't know if I was subconsciously influenced by the title, but I do hear traces of Iron Maiden in the feel of the song; if not a direct sound-alike. Third song 'In a Dream' delights with its medieval-folk ambience. As this is a stripped-down song, the production is nice and clear; something that rather dogs the other tunes once they get multiple instruments involved. Closer 'Shade in the Lake' starts well, with its grand introduction. I can imagine battles being fought here. It soon slows to a mellow keyboard driven passage along with a nice bit of vocal interplay between a male (one of the band members?) and 'Aurora'. Her vocal performance on this song does shine more than on the other tracks on this disc. What should be remembered is that this is a demo. Therefore, any misgivings should be taken lightly. I am sure they are still finding their feet somewhat with their sound. Personally, I feel their direction is best summed up on the final track. I look forward to hearing what they come up with next.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Self-released

EP

THE FIFTH SIDE

Review by Steve Cowan

RUNNING TIME:

24:59

RELEASE DATE:

September 2007

TRACK LISTING

1) Black Maiden
2) Ragnarok
3) Inside a Dream (Part 1)
4) Shade in the Lake

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Italy

"The songs are well-composed, if a little over-long on occasion..."