Hailing from Rome and with a name inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Raven is Kingcrow, after a six-year gap between albums they are back with Hopium (Season of Mist). Theirs is an emotive brand of Prog Rock but the Metal of the previous album The Persistence, has been dialled down with atmospheric, ambient, Electronic, and Alt Rock elements playing a larger part. 

 The driving guitar and pulsating synths of “Kintsugi” starts things off with a nice sense of urgency, and a slight whiff of Muse which pervades the whole record. Their moody, multifaceted prog is full of restless urgency and a heavy atmosphere, and “Parallel Lines” – with its swirling mix of synths, light and airy passages and soaring guitar solos – has these in abundance. The anguished, Radiohead-like “Losing Game,” has moody Alt-Rock passages which give way to crunching riffs – adding some power and oomph to the melodramatic melancholia. 

The light and airy start of “White Rabbit’s Hole” slowly builds to a metallic and orchestrated climax with some very able drumming by Thundra. This album is littered with songs that build to a crashing crescendo and the brooding “Night Drive” is another such number that grows in power, and this intense mix of heavy emotion and dramatic music leaves you with an unbalanced album. There is no let up from the well-crafted melodrama, be it the impassioned “Vicious Circle” or the sombre title track with Diego Marchesi’s emphatic, Matt Bellamy-like vocals. The end result of which is a top-heavy album which, whilst good, leaves you weary and yearning for some light relief by the end. 

Hopium is a well-made display of emotive Prog Rock whose unrelenting melodrama and intense atmosphere bears too heavy a weight.

Buy it here:
https://kingcrow1.bandcamp.com/album/hopium

6 / 10
THOMAS THROWER