Review by Jophelerx on July 29, 2024.

Dark Quarterer's impressive and celebrated self-titled debut album wouldn't be allowed to sit for long, as the following year saw the release of the follow-up The Etruscan Prophecy. This might suggest that the band was capable of producing its uniquely ambitious and complex style of compositions at quite an astounding rate, though I think this idea would be misleading, as the band's third effort wouldn't see the light of day until 1993, a full five years later, and by then the style would largely eschew the epic and traditional leanings of the first two albums in favor of a more moody prog-rock style of music. I suspect that much or all of the material for The Etruscan Prophecy was already written by the time Dark Quarterer was released in 1987, given that the band had been around in some form since all the way back in 1974, and all the material for their first album was around at least as early as 1985, evidenced by their appearance on the band's first demo tape. The fact that the band haven't deviated all that much musically here also lends credence to this notion, although there are some changes, most notably in the production, which is a massive improvement.

The sound here is much more polished and professional than what we heard on the debut, which was often thin and/or muddy and really reflected something just a small step above what one might expect from a demo. The change here is huge, with a nice meaty guitar tone showing that the band weren't afraid to lean into their heavier side, as well as a drum sound whose clarity and dynamic range of sound rivals that of even the biggest bands of the era, as well as each layer of guitar or vocal sound always being audible even when present in multiple layers, as the band tends to do with their style. Nothing is given too much emphasis or too little, and everything is handled masterfully in a way that perfectly complements the band's style. The album was produced by Giorgio Mangora of Cobra Records, and while his label only handled one other album, the thrash band Fingernails' first record, he clearly had a very good idea of what he was doing, and it's obvious the band had a real budget this time around to make sure everything sounded perfect.

Of course, the star of the show here most of the time is once again vocalist Gianni Nepi, whose powerful, emotive tenor hasn't lost anything since the previous album, able to hit any note and match whatever emotion the song requires; he definitely has some crazy shrieks at times, such as in the brief, moody prog-rock number "Piercing Hail," or in the chorus at the end of "Devil Stroke," even carrying parts of songs on his own, such as during the a capella intro to "Angels of Mire." Stylistically, the band hasn't changed much, though I do feel that the songs are a bit more focused and developed than on the debut, with the four major pieces all following a similar structure, playing with a single main theme in various ways while slowly ramping things up in terms of intensity and ambition until they explode at the end; the title track features some nice, big choral effects at the end of its duration, while "Devil Stroke" sees some impressively dizzying solos and exceptionally energetic vocals from Nepi. If this album has any real flaw, it might be that it's a bit on the short side, with as I said, four full songs, and a total duration of around 38 minutes. This isn't drastically diminished from the first album, but the fact that there are only four full tracks is a bit unusual, particularly for the era and style, with the practice only becoming common in metal later on when doom and more experimental black metal would gain popularity in the 1990s. Still, this does come off as a strength at the same time, given the fact that the compositions never really meander or become overly indulgent, something that wasn't common on the first album but did happen here and there.

As far as the range of sounds here, I would say this comes off as a bit more one-note than the debut, generally sticking to the straight-ahead epic heavy metal style outside of the softer "Piercing Hail," and then finally "The Last Hope," an acoustic classical guitar solo which leads in nicely to closer "Angels of Mire," which does feel a bit darker and more serious than the catchy exuberance of "Retributioner," "The Etruscan Prophecy," and "Devil Stroke," though the title track does have some cool deviations in spots, like the oddly appropriate pitch-shifted spoken word intro or the acoustic middle section of the title track, though it's still essentially riffing on the same melodies as the rest of the song. "Angels of Mire" definitely has its own atmosphere, though, somewhat comparable to "Dark Quarterer" from the first album, but leaning even harder into the quietly dramatic tone, with acoustic guitars and Nepi at his most somber and wistful, staying a capella and/or acoustic until past the two-minute mark, where it final turns into more of a metal track, but maintains a slower and more ominous character for the most part, the guitars staying relatively simple and sparse in places to allow Nepi to belt out his lines without competition in what is probably my favorite performance of his between both albums, though of course he's always fantastic. The guitars are given some time to vibe in the second half of the song, and the neoclassical noodling here gives axeman Fulberto Serena a chance to let loose here, perhaps the one part of the album that feels more showy and less about staying on a singular theme, but the melodies are blindingly captivating that it really doesn't matter. The song ends, as usual, on a high note, with everybody putting in their all, and leaves you wanting more while also feeling oddly satisfied in a strange paradoxical ending.

Overall, this is a fantastic album - if you liked the first one, this is more of the same, with a vastly improved production and an arguably slightly more focused and accessible structure, though it does lack some of the variety born of the self-titled album's more experimental nature, the consequence of a band still finding their footing. This is the second of two absolutely essential epic metal offerings whose tone and character wouldn't often be repeated, with only a couple of other bands, generally from the same geographical area, having much in common with the classically-inspired and earnestly dramatic style here (Adramelch is the biggest one, though bands like Milan's Wotan and Greece's Crush would share some of these themes in the early 90s). This is a fantastically unique sound to which even the band themselves would never fully return on later albums, though I think their later albums do still have something to offer in terms of musical quality, just in a much different vein that's not as focused on big, bombastic ideas and cutting metal riffs. For those, the band delivers in spades here on The Etruscan Prophecy, and fans of traditional heavy metal are absolutely robbing themselves of some important and incredibly enjoyable history if they don't give this one a fair shake.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10