Janvs

Italian black metal envelope pushers go space truckin’

Arriving in the wake of 2007’s FVLGVRES, we assume JANVS’ third full-length, Vega, will be another clever fusion of melodic black metal and spacious progressive rock from the Genoa, Italy band; but it turns out to be far more audacious than expected, focusing on textured guitar work, subtle ambient touches and shockingly rich vocal melodies by guitarist Matteo “Vinctor” Barelli. Such brazen, Ulver-esque unpredictability, combined with Italian-sung lyrics that delve deeply into enigmatic, metaphysical territory, make for an entrancing, mysterious album. Just don’t expect Vinctor to give any easy answers as to what his songs are all about.

“I never liked to do long talks about the things I do myself,” he explains via email. “It always makes me feel incomplete, gross and somewhat arrogant… I do songs [because] I have difficulties expressing certain things in more conventional ways, and because I think that when an album is born from a proper amount of passion and resources, it can speak for itself, without the need of a user manual, so to speak. I think that it is very rare that the ‘artist’ may understand everything of what he has done, too. I don’t want to say to our listeners what they should think or feel listening to our music.”

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