After releasing their first full-length in Rome, horror-doom act Hands of Orlac moved to a colder clime -- Malmö, Sweden -- and have released a new album, Figli del Crepuscolo. I hadn't heard any material out of these folks previously, but after listening to their new album, which does do some things right, I can't say it's particularly exciting material.

After an eerie, SFX-filled intro that calls to mind a John Carpenter soundtrack, we get to the initial, surprisingly fast-paced doom piece, Last Fatal Drop. As expected from a band that has a guitarist from the excellent Portrait, which we've reviewed here before, this is largely guitar-driven with plenty of solos, but vocalist/flutist Ginevra, in her role as The Sorceress, supplies some counterpoints to the guitar with flute parts that fit quite well with the guitars, though it doesn't seem like she is given much of a melody. Burning has more of a swinging beat, but slows down at times, letting the solos wash over most of those parts, while A Coin in the Heart has a galloping beat to it that gives it a bit more speed than it would otherwise have.

The good parts of their music can't overcome the aforementioned lack of melody, which starts grating on a listener after a while. The Sorceress has a fairly narrow range, despite her voice being nice to listen to, and songs like A Ghost Story and Mill of the Stone Women can drag on pretty long. She gets more animated towards the end of A Ghost Story, however, which is good to hear. As for the music, it too starts to drag and repeat itself due to the guitars latching themselves onto a supporting role for the flute. By the end of Mill of the Stone Women, it's pretty easy to have gotten tired of the album.

For those who like female-fronted doom, this may be just the thing, but there are a lot of similar acts out there that minimize many of the drawbacks Hands of Orlac have, and the monotone nature of the songs are a big drawback. Figli del Crepuscolo is listenable, but I don't see it becoming a favorite of mine anytime soon.