NIGHT GAUNT - Rupture

“Of Clouds and Gleam” is the grim opener that sets the mood, painting a vivid picture of the sounds Night Gaunt weaves with belted poetics. “Strangers” picks up the pace, a faster track with wild riffing and hard drums. “Struck by the Fever” is a harrowing narrative, spinning a dark-folk tale of stanzas accompanied by sound and plucky guitars.

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“Ordeal” rolls in with a striking fury and reverb-heavy bass, full of haunting voices shaping it. Giuseppe Colio is a charming frontman, with harrowing howls and gloomy narration that carries emotional weight throughout each track. “The Revenant” has the element of dark-folk with its strings, “The Deer and the Hunter” has a classic post-punk sound and a wide vocal range. Each song feels like a poem, varying in its intensity and emotion with each entry, intimate in nature.

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Enter “September Song,” a traditional and romantic ballad, tender and given complexity with its layering of gentle voices. “The Antagonist” shines through with deep and moody basslines from Jacopo Gianmaria Pepe, who brings in much of the 80s post-punk and darkened sound that resonate some kind of longing.

Both Stefano Allegretti and Colio create this weighted, punky-doom that feels gothic and romantic in its own nature, with techniques that invoke some of that nostalgia from several eras ago but enough to stand firmly on their own. The work in “September Song,” though acoustic and much more mellow in its melancholy, is a song so simple it feels unique.

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Rolling drums open “Blooming,” with structured and dramatic patterns from Luca Ercolani, this instrumental is quite the magical piece, where sensitive ivories, thunderous drums and expressive guitars collide. “The End,” the final and longest track, brings together Night Gaunt’s strengths to make a triumphant last hurrah as Colio’s vocals belt through the dark waves. Another lull before the atmosphere kicks in again, ending on the energy it started with.  

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The entirety of the tracklist comes together to create a complete image. Rupture is a dark dreamscape with well-illustrated narrative and constructed, solid tracks. It draws from the best of each genre it explores to combine and create something truly special, balanced in its burning melancholy and serenity.

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SCORE 10/10

Reviewed by GhostinthearmouR