7th May 2025

Review: “Adrift” by Marea

A year after his well received debut full length album “The Silence Of Rust” vocalist, lyricist and multi instrumentalist Matteo Balzarini returns with an unholy trinity of songs for his solo project Marea (or “Tide“). Written in three distinctive periods, months and years apart, they were all recorded, mixed and mastered by Carlo Meroni (Imago Mortis, Ancient, Kaiserreich) at ADSR Decibel Studio in October and November 2024. As with that first record, Balzarini chose Alessandro Mori (Entirety, Hanormale, Last Call For The Road) as his session drummer with the aforementioned Meroni providing keyboards. For the artwork Balzarini approached artist Francesco Gemelli (Howls Of Ebb, Midnight Odyssey, Venomous Echoes) and asked him to provide “a water-themed landscape that could express desolation, melancholy, but also beauty and poetry, with a graphic style that could resemble watercolour painting”…

…and within the first few moments of the first song it becomes clear that the specific vision for the artwork that Balzarini had has ended up with Gemelli creating a wonderful mirrors reflection of the record itself. Melancholy and bleak yet achingly beautiful, “Useless” is the first of this collection and the most recently written, time stamped with September 2024. A portrait in Post-Black Metal with Doom inspired atmospheres, its weighty and emotive guitars provide the counterpart to the lyrical narrative which is caustically delivered in writhing perpetual agony. At times Balzarini sounds like the voice from the abyss, a demonic banshee impaled on a spike for crimes against humanity, begging for an end to his suffering. The lush and rich melancholic guitars a provide chinks of light through those dark clouds, their almost angelic beauty an joy to behold while Mori nails his brief with the drum parts to perfection. Strangely quiet, peaceful and serene, the warmth of the acoustic guitar introduction to “Rusted” feels like an antidote to poison. Written in July 2024 during what Balzarini calls “one of the worst nights of my life“, its lyrical narrative offers catharsis from deep seeded pain, the savage and emotive vocal performance wrapped in intensely melancholic guitars evidence of what it means. The grit and integrity of the piece is nothing short of stunning, the decision to include such a song here both bold and brave. Last but by no means least, the oldest song of this collection is the one from which the project takes its name and “Marea” was actually written as long ago as 2009. You might think it would sound out of keeping with the rest of the collection but if anything the opposite is true. Melodies that mimic the flow of streams to rivers and ultimately the ocean deep are stunning in shoegazing fashion. The gradual and gracious build of the sound through acoustic to electric guitars with a sense of quiet contemplation and self reflection is nothing short of beautiful, some fleeting intricate moments adding a little complexity without overdoing it. All in all, a stunning and thought provoking collection not to be missed [8/10]

Track Listing