Descent into Maelström

Descent into Maelström
release “Descent into Maelström”
out on March 1st 2017

bio

The Descent Into Maelstrom project was born in September 2016, when its sole official member Andrea “Maelstrom” Bignardi decided to compose a set of songs following unusual writing styles for heavy metal, like the medieval madrigals. Every part, including drums, was composed by Andrea, who made his bones in some local bands, always trying to find his personal sound. The project’s name comes from a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled “A Descent into the Maelstrom”, making obvious Andrea’s passion for the Gothic literature, which is featured on the album’s opening song. The songwriting process for the second album has already begun, requiring a detailed study of music theory and characterized by the typical sounds of the dodecaphony compositional style developed by Arnold Schoenberg in the early 1900. The idea behind this study is to research a more complex and sophisticated sound, trying to cross the borders of the typical “dogmas” of a genre already explored far and wide like heavy metal.

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 "Descent into Maelström"

The first self-titled album, released in March 2017, is still very focused on the classic Melodic Death Metal and introduces, as a kind of experiment, the structures of madrigals combined with the typical atmospheres of the genre. The album’s main concept concentrates on literature, especially gothic, with the songs “Ignis Fatuus”, “Castle Of Otranto” and “Descent Into Maelstrom” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s and Horace Walpole’s works. Another trend featured in the lyrics of this album is the “Sturm Und Drang”, Phil Soar’s and Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s cultural legacy, perceptible in “Innerwhere” and “Storm And Assault”. Other songs like “Everything Against” and “Atavic Enemies” contain a moral according to which every human being, in order to react to critical situations, gives in to evil and corrupts his soul. Finally, “Peroratio In Rebus” and “Castle Of Otranto” were composed following madrigal fundamentals. These songs evolve into a sort of polyphonic elements represented by guitars, without the typical structure based on verses and choruses: the title “Peroratio In Rebus” exactly matches the typical medieval madrigal.