Album Review: The Moor - Ombra

The Moor are an Italian band, formed in 2009. Their debut self-titled EP was in 2012 and then the same year their first studio album Year of the Hunger was released. Now they come with their third studio album, Ombra that will be released on March 15th, 2024.

Band Members:

• Enrico Longhin - vocals, guitars, synths
• Davide Carraro - lead guitars
• Massimo Cocchetto - bass
• Edo Sala - drums

The Songs:

1. Intro - Il Tema dell'Ombra (The Shadow Theme). It starts with a beautiful piano melody that gets increasingly epic.

2. The Overlord Disease. This is the first single they released, from this album.  It’s a mixture of crushing drums and guitar riffs, death metal vocals that alternate with cleans too. Catchy chorus. Perfect for a single.

3. Illuminant. Dark tone, heavy. Clean and death metal vocals. Good guitar solo. Doom in some parts.

4. Ombra (Shadow). In Italian. Heavy and fast-paced, with orchestral elements. Dark and somber tone, melancholic feeling that is expressed through the clean vocals, and keyboards, that mixes with death growls, as well.

5. This River Spoke. Great guitar work during the whole song, with some tempo changes, and progressive elements.

6. Lifetime Damage. Softer start. Clean and doom vocals that intertwine with death growling. It has a doom vibe.

7. Withered. I love the clean vocals and guitar solo here. It has a technical progressive vibe with symphonic keyboards. Death vocals made their appearances from time to time.

8. Our Tides. Nice keyboards at the beginning that then merge with the rest of the instruments, building up to the rest of the song. Clean and death vocals. The drums here are such a delight to hear, they stand out here. Impressive drumming work, with lots of rhythm changes. Great guitar solo.

9. Passage. Starts with a Middle East or Egypt kind of vibe, then in the middle song changes to a beautiful acoustic part with the guitar, and it evolves into a wonderful guitar solo. Later, gets a little heavier. Great drumming too. Only clean vocals. Catchy chorus. My favorite track from the album.

10. Vitreous. Clean and death vocals, and a great guitar solo. Not so heavy. I liked the tempo changes.

11. Thirst. A lot of pace changes. Smooth and slow choruses with clean vocals. The rest of the song, is heavier, with death metal vocals. Exquisite guitar solo.

I liked the mix of styles and rhythm changes that The Moor made in this album. Progressive rock and metal, doom, and more classic metal, in some parts.

The doom vibe is not that sluggish gritty style, but more like a tone that’s present in the vocals that reminded me of the ex-Candlemass singer, Messiah Marcolin. I love that style of singing and that, combined with death metal vocals and melodic and progressive rock and metal sounds, created a fascinating album that any fan of these styles would love. A good band to keep in mind.

Rating: 8/10
Release Date: March 15th 2024
Released By: Inertial Music
FFO: Gojira, Candlemass, Everygrey

Track List:

01 - Intro - Il Tema del l'Ombra
02 - The Overlord Disease
03 - Illuminant
04 - Ombra
05 - This River Spoke
06 - Lifetime Damage
07 - Withered
08 - Our Tides      
09 - Passage
10 - Vitreous
11 - Thirst