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Davide Ronfetto — Enlightening Nights, Darkening Days
(Luminol Records, 2023, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2023-05-11

Enlightening Nights, Darkening Days Cover art

Enlightening Nights, Darkening Days is the debut album by Italian musician, composer, and teacher Davide Ronfetto, a suitable album title for post-progressive rock. Davide self-released a mini-album in 2015 called Aside, featuring Macro Minnemann (Steven Wilson and The Aristocrats), Anna Portalupi (Tarja Turunen, Steve Lukather, and Hardline), and Edmondo Romano (Motus Laevus, PFM, and New Trolls). Then over the last four years, he worked with Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree and ORk), Heather Findlay (Ayreo and Odin Dragonfly), Elisa Montaldo (Il Tempio delle Clessidre), Edmondo Romano, and long time friends Gabriele Tiezzi (guitars) and Omar Maiorano (drums) to produce Enlightening Nights, Darkening Days. The seasoned guest musicians greatly enhance the instrumental passages of all eight songs. But my problem lies with Davide’s vocals. He has a very pleasant and smooth voice that for some reason leaves me flat when he starts singing on each track, making this album perfect for background music that does not demand your attention. Davide’s middle-of-the-road, safe approach to music detracts from the listening experience, sanding off all the rough edges and grittiness that the pioneers in progressive rock exploited. It isn’t until you reach the seventh track, “The Witch,” that things begin to sound interesting. This song had so much promise with its Black Sabbath power chords and edgy vocal intro. But sadly, these interesting bits alternate with his smooth and gentle romantic passages, such that there is nothing scary about the song. I suppose that if you are a fan of lush romantic post-progressive music, you might find Enlightening Nights, Darkening Days interesting.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Colin Edwin, Elisa Montaldo, Davide Ronfetto

More info
http://album.link/0krkbjmrzkj4s

 

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