Not since Faith No More's post-Epic albums, when they had the label clout and studio time to explore their kinks in detail, has there been a metal-based album as flat-out weird as Ephel Duath's Painter's Palette.
An artsy (sorry) concept album where every song is subtitled after a different pigment, Painter's Palette welds whiplash hardcore-metal (yes, some songs have the Muppets' vocals, but lead singer Davide Tolomei more often favors a much more melodic, '70s-rock style similar to John Wetton during his King Crimson days) with the trickiest aspects of jazz fusion (unusual chord progressions, abrupt time signature shifts, melodies that take completely unexpected left turns and then get lost trying to find their way back), along with bits of post-rock, hip-hop, and even a bit of classical-style guitar.
It sounds on paper like it could be a pretentious mess, but the combination is delivered with such power and ferocity that it works.
In some ways, Ephel Duath looks back to the days of PFM and Acqua Fragile, the last time when Italian prog rock was so interesting.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Passage (Pearl Grey) | Ephel Duath | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 2 | The Unpoetic Circle (Bottle Green) | Ephel Duath | Play | 04:54 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 3 | Labyrinthine (Crimson) | Ephel Duath | Play | 05:21 | 12 MB | 36 MB |
| 4 | Praha (Ancient Gold) | Ephel Duath | Play | 05:17 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 5 | The Picture (Bordeaux) | Ephel Duath | Play | 04:52 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 6 | Ruins (Deep Blue and Violet) | Ephel Duath | Play | 04:56 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 7 | Ironical Communion (Amber) | Ephel Duath | Play | 05:28 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 8 | My Glassy Shelter (Dirty White) | Ephel Duath | Play | 04:46 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 9 | The Other's Touch (Amaranth) | Ephel Duath | Play | 06:42 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 46 mins | 322 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ephel Duath | Arranger, Primary Artist, Sampling |
| 2 | Fabio Fecchio | Bass |
| 3 | Gianni Gamberini | Assistant |
| 4 | Luciano Lorusso George | Screams |
| 5 | Davide Piocesan | Drums |
| 6 | Matteo Pizzimenti | Photography |
| 7 | Gabriele Ravaglia | Assistant |
| 8 | Maurizio Scomparin | Trumpet |
| 9 | Twan Sibon | CD-ROM Design |
| 10 | Federico Tanzi | Assistant |
| 11 | David Tiso | Guitar |
| 12 | David Tolmie | Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |