EP Review: Anima

This 13-minute-long 3-track instrumental album is by Lorenzo Vichi, an Italian who now lives in Aotearoa. Everything we hear on the EP was written, arranged, recorded, mixed, produced and edited by Lorenzo who decided to record and produce this EP by himself to demonstrate that it is possible to make music without the need for expensive equipment. There is no doubt that Lorenzo is a metalhead, and even when he tries to bring it down, as on middle track Spike Above The Clouds, he is still coming at it from the metal area. The most prevalent genres are mathcore and djent, but there are also elements of prog metal in here as well, with a few keyboards helping to lighten the overall attack.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Lorenzo is an extremely accomplished guitarist, and this medium has allowed him to demonstrate his skill, so it is an incredibly technical EP. But at the end of the day, it must be musical as well and excite the listener, so they stay to the end and there is no issue whatsoever with that as his approach is fascinating. I can’t think of any other shredder who approaches the music quite like this as throughout there is the feeling that this is an instrumental band as opposed to a solo musician. If someone had told me these were rare tracks from Dragonforce I may have believed them, but there again he brings in Meshuggah-style riffs which makes this very heavy indeed.

This never sounds like the work of a single musician, as he has undertaken a lot of work to make this seem like a band, and I not sure how he reproduces this live but if he does then he should tie in with Black Sands as that would be a billing definitely worth checking out. This EP is for metalheads who like their music to be both instrumental and complex and is well worthy of discovery.