I’ve been relatively lucky over the past month or so. Each week my chosen CD to review has been in the very good to the lower end of outstanding. To say this was by chance would not be completely accurate because even though I tend to pick “the left-overs” from the review pile, I make an informed decision while doing so based on styles I typically like. The reason for this is quite simple and let’s take Power Metal as an example: if I give a poor or sub-standard score to a Power Metal CD (with me being a large Power Metal fan) than it carries more weight than me giving a bad score to a Funeral Doom CD (because I’ve yet to hear one that I like). My point is this: though these aforementioned CD have been very enjoyable they lacked an important but not always necessary ingredient. Said ingredient is an element of surprise and envelope pushing. It’s been awhile since I listened to something where each song surprised me with something new. Enter The Dogma’s second release, A Good Day To Die (see, there was a point to my long windedness).

So what does The Dogma (coined Symphonic Heavy Metal by certain websites, ok, just www.metalarchives.com) do to push the envelope and what can you expect? Well, that’s why I listened to this CD so I can tell you what to expect. Symphonic Heavy Metal is both somewhat accurate and also deceiving. Being from Italy, if you’re expecting Rhapsody (or Rhapsody Of Fire, whatever name they are calling themselves now) does Heavy Metal you’d be wrong. Let’s take the first real song (because the first is a useless intro) called A Good Day To Die (the obligatory title track). Instead of the somewhat normal fast or up tempo album opener of almost every Power Metal and Heavy Metal band in the history of time we have a somber, mid-paced, highly atmospheric song that owes a lot to Gothic Metal. In fact, after this first song I thought I was listening to To/Die/For does Heavy Metal. Sure enough, there is very somber and melancholic piano and synth that is synonymous with just about every Gothic Metal or Rock band who use keys in their music. The actual riffs are deliberately heavy and clean, and their usage and melodic structure reminds me a bit of the mid-paced songs from Helloween’s The Dark Ride. The second track In The Name Of Rock sounds like something off of Edguy’s Rocket Ride; what with having a similar keyboard sound and modern (by Heavy Metal standards, not modern in a nu-metal sense) riffing along with a sing-a-long chorus complete with Edguy styled back up vocals. As demonstrated by just the first two songs you have some contrasting styles. If that’s not enough you can also hear clean female vocals (done in a style similar to Lacuna Coil) in a few songs as well as Therion styled choirs (!?!). Yes, that’s right, The Dogma has choirs that sound like Therion. Here’s the kicker though: it’s not a gimmick. It actually forms the basis of three songs as they intermingle with the regular vocals to great effect. How about riffs that sound like the result of Heed having relations with The Dark Ride? That’s here too. There’s even an expertly executed double bass monster of a song called Back From Hell with aggressive riffing, forceful vocals, and an amazing chorus that once again sounds like an even more epic version of something from Helloween’s Better Than Raw. All this from a band that after hearing the first song I thought I was listening to something overly Gothic in nature. Not bad eh?

What makes this come together is a cohesive atmosphere that seems to be present when the band plays slow, mid-paced, or fast and aggressive. That’s not a simple thing to do. Thanks to a distinctive production job (it actually sounds like something Roy Z produced) with ever-present synth, we are given a generalized atmosphere that is allowed to flourish with a moderate variety of song styles and various influences which seem to come out of nowhere but never sounded like a gimmick. Through all the bands stages of music (from a tempo and riff stand point) the vocals remain consistently good. Daniele Santori shows an impressive range which reminds me a lot of Tobias Sammet, especially when he sings with a lot of emotion. After all, isn’t that what most metal-heads look for, someone who sings with forceful emotion instead of being laid-back with a laissez-faire attitude? Santori shows off a rather high-pitched border-line falscetto on more than one occasion and it works well. Though Sammet perhaps has more personality when he sings and an even broader range, Santori adds a lot of melody and aggression with his voice; not to mention the ability to take on more of a Gothic Metal style to add an extra layer of somber texture when necessary.

When you take on so many moods along with choruses that from song-to-song seem to be inspired by everyone from Helloween, to Edguy, to Lacuna Coil, to To/Die/For you’re bound to come out with surprises. It’s almost like the band took the modern approach to Melodic Heavy Metal (and to extent AOR) and added in doses of Gothic Metal (both from an atmosphere and keyboard standpoint) and Power Metal (with some of the choruses and the faster songs) to create something that sounded familiar but added enough surprises to make a highly individualized and distinct recording. So your next question might be why is this CD not getting “legendary” status (that is if you looked at the score already). The answer is simple and perhaps expected. There are a total of 13 songs here (with one intro). That’s 12 whole songs of music. Though a complaint of some CDs is that the length is not long enough; this is perhaps too long. There are a few songs which don’t seem to have the magic the rest do. In particular is Angel In Cage (that's not a typo, there's no "a" after "in") which has a riff style throughout the song that seems to be overly down-tuned with a very American (or English) styled Stoner Metal riff that doesn’t work in the context of the rest of the CD. Also, the title track was a little too somber for its own good. Though it sets the mood for the rest of the CD the band is at their best when they mix a dark, moody atmosphere with elements of aggression and traditional Metal melodies in the choruses. I don’t hear that in the title track and it always bothers me when I listen to it as I am instantly comparing it to the more common song style throughout the CD. Perhaps that’s unfair, but what better way to find out the songs worth than to compare it to the rest of the CD. Lastly, despite the variety in tempos and the unique elements and surprises found within the band’s music they tend to repeat a very similar sounding riff in almost all the mid-paced songs. The excellent vocals, synth, and constant changes tend to mask it over the first few listens, but the heavy but clean mid-paced chugging style of riffing can become repetitive. It by no means kills the CD and quite honestly is borderline nit-picking but with that being said some people are a lot pickier than I am. On a side note: those of you who listened to the first CD can expect a different production job that really chages the overall feeling of the band, plus this CD, despite maintaining a gothic-esque atmosphere, has more traditional Metal elements and less Gothic Metal elements this time around.

Despite the above negative connotations this is a remarkable release that takes an established genre and does just enough “interesting” things with it to make the overall experience fresh, exciting, and unique but not by turning it into a mish-mash of influences and styles. I have to make something very clear though. If you’re listening to just one or two songs you’ll miss what this CD is all about. It’s meant to be taken in as a whole, preferably in one or two sittings because then, and only then will one fully appreciate all the extra exciting things the band incorporates into the music (not to mention the atmosphere). By itself, a song like Back From Hell might come across as a well-done but typical fast and aggressive epic Power Metal song, but when you look at what else the band does on the CD that contrast what they do in that song, it becomes a lot more impressive and interesting. This is highly recommended to fans of Heavy Metal and Power Metal looking for something just a bit different. Here’s to pushing the envelope!