30th January 2021

Review: “Apart” by Cornea

Recorded during the summer of 2019 at Rocketbooster Studio in Padova, engineered by GG Rock and Mastered by Giovanni Versari at La Maestà Studio in Faenza, “Apart” is the work of Italian trio Cornea. An instrumental trio who take the mantra “We are the sound of what your eyes don’t see“, Nicola Mel (Guitars, synths, programming), Andrea Greg poolgio (Drums, synths, programming) and Sebastiano Pozzobon (Bass) paint in Ambient, Dirt and Psychedelic textures…

Building from gloriously bleak shoegaze into the scuzzy Metal of 1970’s Black Sabbath and Spirit Adrift, “Daydreamer” sees the sun go down while you sit skimming stones into the calm waters of the sea with your friends on the beach and moves into the stormier territories of a night in which the waves crash upon the shore. A lush soundscape that plays in the shadows between light and shade, in “Apart“, Cornea create something more melodic than recent albums by Scuzz or Toska but no less cinematic. Perhaps the accompaniment to an art house film “Kingdom” plays on atmosphere with little nuances and a the wonderful rise and fall of a river flowing into sea. “Will Your Heart Grown Fonder?” then builds on that with the ache of the heart for a lover physically distant playing out in fuzzy, dirt laden riffs that border on the progressive before settling down into ambient passages of gentle meandering guitar. The use of guitar layering means that there are both lead an rthym parts in the later stages what showcase Nicola Mel’s talents even further. Afterall, the man himself also create the cover artwork and so can be considered in the most rounded sense of the word, a true artist.

Returning to the calm waters for the gentle shoegaze of “Saltwater” gives a moment of peaceful tranquility, music to ease any headache and gently soothe and tension, letting your troubles gently float away before a segment of dirt rock as the fuzz pedal is engaged that cracks a smile on even the most hardened of stoney faces. That Stoner Sludge Metal element may seem at odds with the ambient shoegaze moments but the pair are well coupled and the craft in the flow of the music from one sound to another shouldn’t be underestimated, such is it’s seamlessly blended patterning, something with is abundant on “Sentinels Of A Northern Sky“, the thunderous closing of which is a demonstration of the power of nature, depicted through the eyes of the Italian trio. Closing with “Diver“, very much the soundtrack to a David Attenborough documentary on the power of hallucinogenics, it’s subtleties a pleasure and the broken chord riffs that bring it to a crescendo, the waves crashing upon the shore [7.5/10]

Track listing