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Dantesco are a fine, largely unknown band from Puerto Rico, and this, their second album, is set to break them to a much wider audience that their little-heard debut De La Mano De La Muerte. Now with a Cruz Del Sur contract, this odd, unique band will get the exposure they deserve, because Pagano is a stronger album in every way.

Describing Dantesco is hard, because they are not imitative of any single band. They are definitely an epic band, very much in the vein of bands like Manilla Road, Battleroar, or Dark Quarterer. They have a riff style that's reminiscent of Root with a heavy tone, odd chord structures, and atypical picking patterns. This album is bristling with great riffs, they just are never easy to follow along. Dantesco never follow the easy way, and I really wish I could understand their lyrics, as I want to know if they are just as involved and epic as their music. It should be pretty obvious from the tracklist that Dantesco sing in Spanish, and while this is a bit of a minus for me, it can't hold back such strong music. The guitars are the focus here, either with heavy riffing or inventive melodic leads. The only things I have to knock this album for are that one: the songs don't really hold together as songs. There are a lot of good parts here, but not really memorable songs. Second: the album itself is just too long, and especially with the bonus tracks it just all starts to run together.

Still, there is some really good stuff here, and epic metal fans looking for obscure acts to get into could hardly do better than Dantesco. Pagano isn't perfect, but it is a meaty slab of True Metal that shows enormous potential in this band. The arrival of a band to watch.