Thursday, October 28: Adramelch, “Dreams of a Jester”
Adramelch had the right sound at the wrong time, as their blend of prog, trad and thrash metal was mostly out of place circa 1988, though it didn’t help that Italy hadn’t yet established itself on the international scene.  As a result, it took about 17 years for them to come back with a second album, but tracks like “Dreams of a Jester” showed they had their sound locked down from the beginning.  The closing track on Irae Melanox had the aforementioned mix of subgenres firmly in place, and while Vittorio Ballerio’s vocals were a bit on the shrill side, there was still something going on here that was worth paying attention to.  The instrumentation melded technicality with melody and power while avoiding the frilly-shirted poofery that Rhapsody would employ (and use to successfully elevate Italy as a player in metal), and there was a nice bite to the overall charge.  And when Adramelch finally did return with a mostly new lineup in 2005, they were finally poised to garner some recognition for a sound they helped develop.
