Artist: Noveria
Title: Forsaken
Label: Scarlet Records
Cat #: SC309-0
Release Year: 2016
Duration: Album
Format: CD Digipak
Quality: New Sealed

'Forsaken' is the second album by Progressive Metal powerhouse Noveria. The album is a concept based on the theory of the five stages of death by Elisabeth Kbler-Ross and written in memory of a brilliant young woman who was taken away from her family by aggressive cancer. Each track describes the different states of mind of a person facing a fatal illness, taking the listener on an emotional rollercoaster through denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance at the end of the journey. Musically every song reflects a specific lyrical theme. Francesco Corigliano's vocals impersonate the emotions of a victim of sudden illness and their inner journey to redemption. Francesco Mattei's violent guitar riffing is contrasted by Julien Spreutels' atmospheric keyboards, creating dynamic pieces where lyrics, melody and harmony unite to touch the multiple aspects of each emotion described in the songs. Omar Campitelli's drum grooves and Andrea Arcangeli's sturdy bass lines add depth to the songs, steadily accompanying them through every mood. Duelling solos between the guitar and keyboard reflect the inner conflict to move from one emotional stage to the other and the electronic drum loops depict the relentlessly advancing tumor. 'Forsaken' has one purpose: trying to understand the emotions of a person confronted with an existential crisis. It's also a reminder for those who are affected by cancer that a diagnosis is not to be intended as the end. Not even those who have been forsaken by fortune are lost while their memory lives on in our hearts.

Recommended if You Like: Symphony X, Dream Theater, Evergrey, Queensryche, Ayreon, Pain of Salvation, Devin Townsend. Yngwie Malmsteen

Track Listing:
1. Lost
2. Shock
3. Denial
4. When Everything Falls
5. Hatred
6. If Only
7. Isolate
8. [W]hole
9. Regrets
10. Utopia
11. Acceptance
12. Archangel