Artist: Blank
Album: Dark Retreat
Review by: Outsider (aka Adrian Onsen)

As their fourth release on Artoffact Records the Italian duo Blank release the album Dark Retreat. Davide (vocals) and Riccardo (keyboards) have released over an hour of music split into thirteen tracks that range in tempo and style from richly complex and layered ethereal soundscapes to beat driven EBM assaults.
Most tracks are melodic and yet retain a dark essence about them that makes for a memorable experience throughout the album.
While the majority of tracks employ Davide’s oral talents, the vocal exploration is rather limited in range on this album. This however is balanced by a couple of tracks featuring powerful female vocals (of Elena Alice Fossi from Kirlian Camera and Elenor Rayner from The Crystalline Effect) which serve to expand the tonal and vocal variety the album. Davides’s vocals are also clean, expressive and bold; a combination and makes for a consistent marker that threads through the entire album bringing it all together.
With each listen of the album I found myself drawn in more and more into the world of Blank as forged by their latest album Dark Retreat. This is a well thought out, well executed and great album from start to finish. Well worth picking up.

Buy Blank’s new album Dark Retreat at Storming The Base