• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

This Italian band has been around since the mid-70s (if Metal-Archives is correct) with Pompei the eighth album since their debut back in 1987. With titles like Violence and Ithaca among their album titles, you'd be on target if you guessed Dark Quarterer play epic heavy metal. I've only heard a few songs here and there prior to receiving Pompei in my review queue so I can't speak to Dark Quarterer's earlier work but the music on this album is grand and cinematic with a big, open production that allows the guitars and keyboards plenty of space to move and breathe. Space taken up by a volcanic eruption during the height of the Roman Empire, an event worthy of grand, cinematic music. The songs are heavy but also rather progressive so at times I hear Virgin Steele and early Manowar (notably Into Glory Ride) but also mid-70s Genesis ("Forever") and even the jazz-influenced piano of Jethro Tull ("Plinius the Elder"). The vocals are probably the least immediately accessible aspect of Dark Quarterer's already unique sound, being high and thin, something that will either grow on you or make Pompei a chore. I've started to appreciate this album, not for the music itself but for how unlike most of the metal out there. I don't know if Pompei will have a wide appeal but if you want to hear something different and you like bands such as Virgin Steele and Brocas Helm, bands that don't follow anyone else's rules, it is an album worth exploring.