Italian darkwave composer Roberto Del Vecchio, the mind behind The Last Hour, has released his latest collection, “It Is the Hour.” This project is a curated mix of remastered past works alongside new versions of older songs, offering a fresh interpretation of the band’s atmospheric sound. The release evokes dizzy memories of fading illusions, death, and the timeless space between dream and reality.

The new collection serves as both a reflection on past musical chapters and a continuation of the band’s evolution, as Del Vecchio explores themes of life, death, and the suspended moments that lie between.

The Last Hour is no stranger to the dark music scene. Founded in 2004, Del Vecchio first gained recognition with the song “Into Empty Depth”, which appeared on the Cold Meat Industry sampler “Flowers Made of Snow”. His career has spanned several decades, with the project’s self-titled debut album released in 2008 on Other Voices Records. The follow-up, “Deadline”, came in 2014 via Seventh Crow Records, and the band’s most recent album, “Black Eyes”, was released in 2022, featuring Carlo Baldini on bass and synth.

The Last Hour is an integral part of Del Vecchio’s long-standing career in the dark music genre. Over the years, he has worked on other projects like Gothica and Les Jumeaux Discordants”, further cementing his influence on the scene”. “With “It Is the Hour,” Del Vecchio once again demonstrates his mastery in blending nostalgia with forward-thinking soundscapes, inviting listeners to reflect on life’s transient nature.”

Fans can explore “It Is the Hour” on major platforms, including Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon.

And here is part two.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Ritual, Dark-Ambient, Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info:  After the excellent debut album “Elysian Chants” we get to hear new work by Caverne Delle Rose. This project driven by AimA (Les Jumeaux Discordants, Allerseelen), Evor Ameisie (NRTHGTE, Camerata Mediolanense) and Diego Cinquegrana is now exploring ‘chthonic lands of maleficence in its meaning of apocalyptic practice resulting in four pieces.

Content: The work moves on exploring dark, Ritual sonic fields. The intimate atmosphere has been accentuated by vocals -which can be now whispering but then harsher although creating an extra effect of sound. You’ll notice heavier, bombastic passages carried by Industrial tones.

+ + + : I like the intimacy of this Ritual work. The work sounds more diversified than the album and even explores Cinematic paths. The vocals create a great, extra, effect on top of the sounds and is an essential aspect of the work.

– – – : I regret the EP-format as we only get 4 cuts featuring very, short, tracks.

Conclusion: I didn’t get surprised as for the band’s debut-album although Caverna Delle Rose is a project you’ve to discover if you’re in search of new Ritual music talents.

Best songs: “Tenebris Secundis”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.cavernedellerose.com / www.facebook.com/cavernadellerose

About Caverna Delle Rose

Caverna Delle Rose is a ritual project run by AimA (also of Les Jumeaux Discordants and Allerseelen), Evor Ameisie (also of NRTHGTE and Camerata Mediolanense) and Diego Cinquegrana. The project’s debut album, “Elysian Chants”, was released on November 3, 2021, and was recorded at Gesamtkunstwerk Studio in Italy between 2020 and 2021. “Tenebris Secundis”, the four-track EP reviewed here, follows that debut.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Caverna Delle Rose is a project driven by AimA Lichtblau (Les Jumeaux Discordants, Allerseelen), Evor Ameisie (Nrthgte, Camerata Mediolanense) and Diego Cinquegrana. The name of the project has been explained by the trio as ‘an intimate poetic figure, you can transfigure as you prefer, without limits of interpretation. Alternatively look at this as the possibility of inflorescence of the mystical sacral dimension of the rose within the darkness of a cave, where darkness is nevertheless a necessary condition for loss that precedes revelation and ecstasy. It is also the name of the Swedish method of condemnation / torture in the thirteenth century. It sounds romantic and the meaning is also almost similar also from this point of view’. The band’s debut-album “Elysian Chants” has been released last year on the French label Slaughter In Art. It’s an artistic creation with a strong Ritual sound and Ethereal voices. I talked about this brilliant exposure of intelligent Ritual music with AimA.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Carverna Delle Rose features experienced artists, involved with different bands. What brought you together and what incited you to start this new project?

AimA:I have known Evor for over twenty years and we have always found tangent points in the way we see things. This is very important for the purpose of fluidity during the creative act.

He knows me very well and I don’t need to speak to explain where I’m going to go. This is because generally the concepts start from me, it is true, but the seed of every concept is still hiding in all members, both from a cultural and a creative point of view: this is fundamental.

The same is for Diego.

We have chosen each other over a long time; not simply because we wanted to create a musical project. Let’s say that the common denominator is our life experiences, our way of seeing things, our desires, our utopias.

I am sure that collaborators are not chosen, but they’re travel companions, which is a very different thing. As for collaborations, I believe they are rarely good things.

Q: What’s your way of working together? What’s the precise input of each member and what are the main instruments you’re using? And what can you tell us about the production of the vocals?

AimA:Normally I start from the concept that it is almost always a need, driven by particular experiences that are not necessarily earthly.

In the case of this work we started from the Orphic Hymns which in themselves already have a great depth both from a conceptual and spiritual point of view.

As previously said, it is important that members share similar ways of seeing things: this avoids having to explain the concept and the work and it allows to start creating immediately. By this I mean that our creations are very instinctive, never too thoughtful.

Evor creates atmospheres where my voice finds a way to express itself very easily, even crossing with his voice that I find incredibly beautiful.

Diego embellishes with sounds and soundscapes, also taking care of the whole visual part.

“Elysian Chants” was born during these years of poor mobility, so we worked mainly at a distance, but I think it would happen even without this type of prohibition to which we have been subjected.

As I said the feeling is so high that we don’t need to talk that much and this also affects the creative flow which becomes very instinctive and felt.

As for the voices, I generally work on all the voices and I also do their editing. The peculiar thing that I have never said is that what you hear is what was instinctively created during improvisation. I never remake the ‘melodies’ except for parts where I have to correct the pitch. This is because in my opinion the creative act is always inspired, we are only means. Therefore creation must not be too filtered by the mind.

Q: You already mentioned the conceptual approach of the project but can you give us more details about “Elysian Chants”?

AimA:As I was saying the work started from the desire to express the atmospheres coming from some Orphic Hymns.

I simply wanted to bring the atmosphere of the Night, the magic of the West Wind, the fierce rush of the Erinyes, the cosmic explosion of Creation, the icy wind of the Moira. I simply wanted to do this, sometimes not sticking to the lyrics, but deriving only the invocatory status

Q: Sound-wise the songs have a strong Ritual approach mixed with Ethereal chants. How do you perceive the content and the sound you create? Did you handle specific criteria and/or references during the writing- and production process?

AimA:No, exactly as I said, creation is a kind of trance for me. I don’t compose because I wouldn’t be able to. The melodies come from a deep feeling, from a connection that is beyond this world. Otherwise I would find no sense in making music or writing.

When I write or sing I do it in a kind of possession state that is very different from creative inspiration. This can also happen during live shows. I leave this earthly part for a moment and I am captivated by something that I can’t define, but I like it.

Q: The album wants to be a ‘bridge between ancient practices and beliefs and contemporaneity’. That’s an interesting- and ambitious aspect as I think our ‘western world’ has seriously lost the connection with ancestral rites and practices. How did it happen and what’s your perception of ‘modern world’ and ‘modern times’?

AimA:I feel I can speak for all three, but for convenience I will use the first person. It is true that modern times, especially in Western civilization, have lost much of their ritual traditions, but this is not the case for everyone.

If you live in a big city you may be more easily engulfed by these ‘modern times’, but in less contaminated places (for example where I live) the absence of worldly things and an overbearing presence of Nature, easily lead you to a connection with everything what appears to be lost.

Perhaps we have lost the collective rituals, but I believe that everyone could recover their contact with Nature (for example), living in Her rituals what has always belonged to us. It is quite another thing to recognize the energies that operate around us, but it would be a long speech.

However, the work that takes its cue from the Orphic Hymns goes through with simplicity and effectiveness even those that are archetypes and emotional states with which everyone can measure themselves.

Q: “Elysian Chants” has been released in times of ongoing pandemic. What does that mean for musicians and especially for a new project like yours? How do you expect things evolving and what are the further plans for Caverna Delle Rose?

AimA:Yes, as I told, we had no problem in creating during this period and it won’t be different in the future. We live faraway and we all have a busy life, then it is not easy to meet. But what I can say is that we don’t need it at the same time.

Personally, the pandemic has pushed me to slow down the pace of work and therefore to have more time not so much to create, but to put myself in the mental and soul state to welcome that ‘spirit of creation’ that does not always appear and that the daily life does not always allow to welcome.

As for upcoming projects, we certainly still have a lot of things to say, so it won’t be long for you to have our new ones.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Genre/Influences: Electro-Wave, Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Behind The Last Hour is hiding Italian composer Roberto Del Vecchio. He received some recognition with some of his other projects like Gothica (which released albums on Cold Meat Industry) and Les Jumeaux Discordants. He now strikes back with a new album of The Last Hour which is the first one in seven years.

Content: The Last Hour has less in common with Del Vecchio’s other projects. This music is driven by 80s influences getting us back to Electro-Wave. The songs are rather rudimentary and into dreamy atmospheres. Passages remind me of Neuroactive and also for the vocals’ production. There are a few short songs on the tracklist which also has a Cinematic feeling.

+ + + : The Last Hour has an own style of Electro-Wave/Pop. I personally prefer the darker part of the work and especially recommend listening to “The Dead Of Night” -which might appeal for Neuroactive fans. The somewhat whispering style of singing is also a cool aspect of the work.

– – – : The production needs a bit more elaboration.

Conclusion: This album is an easy listening but without true ups.

Best songs: “The Dead Of Night”, “Black Eyes”.

Rate: 6.

Artist: www.facebook.com/thelasthour04

Label: www.facebook.com/thewhiteroomnetlabel

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Ritual.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Caverna Delle Rose is a new project driven by AimA (Les Jumeaux Discordants, Allerseelen), Evor Ameisie (NRTHGTE, Camerata Mediolanense) and Diego Cinquegrana. This album wants to be a ‘bridge between ancient practices and beliefs and contemporaneity.” The debut album features seven ‘Orphic Hymns’ plus a song of creation.

Content: From the very first notes and chants of the album you perceive the strong Ritual input. The vocals sometimes have something Ethereal as well, but music and vocals/chants together create the path to a mystic journey. The Ritual style has been accentuated by the percussion while the dark electronic atmospheres reveal a hostile sphere. A guest musician plays cello parts on a few songs, this way injecting extra darkness.

+ + + : This album took me by surprise for its instantly Ritual approach. The power of the vocals mixing Ritual- and Ethereal styles has something bewitching. But there also is a great symbiosis with the music, which through its overwhelming sound waves and subtle field recordings reaches a state of climax, a kind of sonic ecstasy coming through at “To The Fates”. The work also has inhibited parts, even intimate and feeling as a caress to your mind. Every single song of this album has something joyful.

– – – : I don’t see real minus points; this is a great piece of music.

Conclusion: The debut album of Caverna Delle Rose is an accomplished and brilliant exposure of intelligent Ritual music. 

Best songs: “To The Fates”, “To Corybas”, “To The Furies”, “To The West Wind”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: https://cavernadellerose.com / www.facebook.com/cavernadellerose

Label: www.slaughterinart.com / www.facebook.com/Slaughterinart

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Genre/Influences: Ethereal, Cinematographic, Neo-Classic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This album resulted from the fusion between singer AimA –known as Aimaproject and previously involved with Allerseelen, Les Jumeaux Discordants, iNsCissorS) and The Illusion Of Silence. I discovered the work of Luca Bonandini (The illusion Of Silence) by the promising album “Black Rainbow” (2016) while the next opus “The White Summer” was released in 2017. This work is based on some Orphyc Hymns chosen among the 87 short poems composed in either the late Hellenistic era’; poems that were attributed to Orpheus.

Content: You recognize the artistic sound creation of Luca Bonandini mixing cinematographic passages together with a Neo-Classic and pure Ethereal style. The Ethereal influence is accentuated by the voice of AimA. She’s mixing elevating, ethereal chants passages together with half spoken vocals sung in Italian. Her voice sometimes becomes an extra instrument while the real instruments are once again mainly acoustic.

+ + + : This kind of production has a strong authentic feeling because of the use of real, acoustic instruments. I recognized guitar, flutes, bells and santoor, but more instruments have been used as well. The piano is one of them and has a very important role in the album, creating a sensation of despair and loneliness. The vocals are now fragile and next elevating, but music and singing together create an intimate atmosphere. It’s a dark album, which also has something ritual and definitely intriguing and accomplished with subtle arrangements. I also want to say a word about the sober, but artistic digipak format.

– – – : This is the kind of work that will probably not get a deserved attention. I can’t say it’s the best work I’ve ever heard in this music genre although it’s a great piece of music.

Conclusion: “Music For Certain Rituals” is a beautiful and enlightening piece of darkness elevated by enchanted female vocals and a graceful composition.

Best songs: “To Victory”, “To Mars”, “Ama il tuo sogno se pur ti tormenta”, “To The Moon”, “To The Sea”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/aimaandtheillusionofsilence   www.facebook.com/aimalichtblau /

www.facebook.com/theillusionofsilence1

Label: www.facebook.com/indiestateofficial

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

“Desertland” is the all new album for Shadoworld, which is actually the duo consisting of Roberto Del Vecchio and Old Boy aka Claudio Carluccio. Especially Roberto Del Vecchio will ring a bell, he is an Italian composer since 1994 and founded projects such as Gothica (Cold Meat Industry), The Last Hour (Other Voices Records / Seventh Crow Records) and Les Jumeaux Discordants (Athanor Records). Claudio Carluccio from his side is an Italian multi-instrumentalist he worked with various musicians.

Shadoworld debuted in 2017 with a self titled album on The White Room Netlabel, followed by the “Silver Rain” in 2018.

On “Desertland” you can expect dark folk with a touch of western style and modern electronica, combined with neo-classical. The band’s label describes it as music that “in some parts reminds of Nick Cave, Death in June, Depeche Mode, Johnny Cash, Ennio Morricone, Mark Lanegan.”

Check it for yourself below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The french label Athanor, known for releasing occult and/or ritual ambient and industrial music, has returned.

Available in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies in digipak and 20 pages booklet is the newest release by Les Jumeaux Discordants: “Les Chimères” (you can order one of the 300 copies right here).

The album is the first all new release in quite some time from Athanor, the cult label that counts releases in its catalogue from such bands as Les Joyaux De La Princesse, Ain Soph, Zero Kama, Blood Axis, Golgatha, Shinkiro, Mental Measuretech and many more.

You can expect the use of heavy percussions reminding of Les Joyaux de la Princesse, Camerata Mediolanense, Les Sentiers Conflictuels, Blood Axis, early Laibach or Dead Can Dance. This is the second album based on Gérard de Nerval’s poems “Les Chimères”, Charles Baudelaire, Empedocle and Angelo Tonelli.​

Les Jumeaux Discordants is a ritual project born in 2005 by the union of Roberto Del Vecchio’s music and Aima. Roberto Del Vecchio (The Last Hour / ex Gothica) is a composer since 1994 while Aima started her project in 1996 working around poetry, photography, music and multimedia.

Here’s how they sound:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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