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I felt like this Italian band showed promise on their debut, The Knightlore, from 2019 and now we have their second full-length effort, Dust Age. The band clearly loves the ‘80s metal sound, the kind of rough, gritty, underground stuff that never got picked up by the major record labels but fans "in the know" searched high and low for. Dust Age sounds like it was recorded on analog equipment back in ‘84 or ‘85 and the guitars have a great tone. That said, I find the playing a bit chaotic with the instruments occasionally stumbling over each other and I’m not really digging the vocalist leaning into Tim Baker territory, as his lines don’t always mesh with the music. Most of the time he is fine, but once in a while he cuts across the melody a little too sharply. The songwriting is unashamedly underground with some excellent riffs, but as on The Knightlore, nothing sticks around after the album ends. I still think this band has potential and I really like that they are exploring different sounds in pursuit of old school heavy metal as well as their steadfast refusal to court accessibility, but I find Dust Age to be a slight step back from The Knightlore.