OfeliaDorme – All Harm Ends Here | New release

OfeliaDorme have a new release, All Harm Ends Here, coming to the table very soon* and I am delighted to be able to offer a perspective on the release. I missed them in the UK last year, but have heard tiny whispers they may be coming back, as soon as I know more I will let you know. Any way I digress, the new release, how does it stack up.

OfeliaDorme | All Harm Ends Here

OfeliaDorme | All Harm Ends Here

Opening with Paranoid Park, the signature sense of menace appears over the brickwork. OfeliaDorme are exponents in the art of dark and haunting material, with their clever use of alternative instrumentation, the discordant sound of a triangle, creates a sense of unease as the band introduce a great album.

The musical competence of the band oozes out of the speakers as Francesca Bono harmonises to a scattered guitar on Ian. Lazy bass generates some superb atmospheric to the track.

Grow! finds the band delving in to a mist as the felted mute generates a sense of exploration,  which is developed in the final third of the track, finally finding the hidden moss, as they once again project the concept of – there is more, somewhere. This is a whole theatre production in just over four minutes.

Grow! by OfeliaDorme

Each track brings it’s own delight and Burning is no exception, as an alto guitar reverberates and swhirls around the track, generating a hook on which the track revolves like a spinning whirlpool.

The King is Dead, chirping frogs set the scene, accompanied by fingered guitar. The album is many steps away from the EP Sometimes It’s Better to Wait, with it’s city based backdrop. On All Harm Ends Here, OfeliaDorme lead the listener to a dank forest, with the same sense of oppression, but a softer structure.

A more upbeat I Like My Drums, exposes a different side to the band. While the velvetine vocals are ever present, the whole scene is switched to a far more open rendition. An interesting construct, which the band handle well.

Leaves of Grass takes a tangential shift, with discordant chords introducing a late interlude on the album.

After the break, Naked Evil finds the band in a more melancholic mood, almost in slow motion, the brain is challenged to create its own even keel. I think these two tracks together are a brave dialect to hold with the listener. Yet, exemplify why I enjoy OfeliaDorme , unafraid to challenge and absolutely prepared to ostracise in the pursuit of extrapolating the heart of their emotional positioning.

I’ll just digress for a moment, as Fra and I have exchanged many thoughts. With no doubt she and de facto OfeliaDorme are treading a heartfelt path of their perspective of the world around them and quite rightly they will and perhaps more importantly should, challenge the audience.

The Wizard, the Witch and the Crow retains the more upbeat tempo of the second half of the album as the band head towards the light from the dark tunnel. Believably they are able to lead the listener out of the dark mists to a brighter space, as the album unfolds.

But we are not there yet, a River, blocks the route. Atmospherics generate a sense of a gloomy fog in to a gently bubbling river, which holds exactly what to ensnare the unwary? As the track develops the sun begins to heat the haze and it is possible to see a path to the future.

So we reach Eve. An acoustic led piece and as with the EP, whilst the world isn’t resolved, it seems clearer as OfeliaDorme infer that to question, can lead to a clearer space.

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*UPDATE 26th August 2011 – All Harm Ends Here is available from our bandcamp store as a digital download or Physical CD

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  1. [...] March 2013 saw OfeliaDorme from Bologna in Italy who I last reviewed in February 2011 release Bloodroot their new LP which [...]



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