Origin:	Italy
Genres:	Black Metal

Opera IX

Opera IX is one of the more unique bands to come out of Italy in some time. Unlike a lot of present-day Italian bands (many of whom are in the power/prog metal field), Opera IX's style is an intriguing and original mix of black, doom, and goth metal, with excellent songwriting and highlighted by vocalist Cadaveria (until recently, as mentioned below). She is quite a find, able to transition from beautiful soprano to goth crooning to death growls and black rasps, often within the same song. Her vocals, along with the interplay between keyboards and guitars, set this band apart, there's not really any other band that sounds like this. The songs are long (five of the six Sacro Culto songs are over ten minutes in length), but never boring, as the band gracefully transitions from one section to the next, effortlessly changing mood from softer passages to aggressive riffing. An ethereal mood pervades over much of the music, often quite haunting (this is where the goth comparisons come from). Comparing the later two albums, Black Opera is the more mature, and has a better production, but Sacro Culto is more endearing, with more raw emotion carrying the songs to great effect. It took a few listens to get into this band, but the more one listens, the more one appreciates them.

Unfortunately, differences arose between the two main forces in the band (Cadaveria and guitarist Ossian), prompting Cadaveria to leave the band, taking drummer Flegias with her. She has since formed her own band, simply called Cadaveria, and a pair of albums have been released. Opera IX continues on as well, but has found it hard to find permanent replacements for Cadaveria and Flegias, as both albums released since their departure feature different pairs of vocalist/drummers. Though the first of those two albums (Maleventum) was a capable album in its own right, it doesn't rank with Sacro Culto or Black Opera in terms of quality (to these ears, anyway).