Lento

Hailing from Rome, Italy, Lento are an instrumental quintet that channel the best elements of Isis, Earth and Fogdiver-era the Ocean. Earthen is their seven-song debut that transports listeners across the universe through deep space while hurtling dangerously close to supernovas and black holes. The most noteworthy occurrence is that the volume oscillates with each successive track, and opener "Hadrons” is the heaviest cut, with the band’s three-guitar strata (Giuseppe Caputo, Lorenzo Stecconi, and Donato Loia) of sound. The Transmission0-like "Need” throbs with Emanuele Massa’s crisp bass and Federico Colella’s tom interplay. "Currents” and "Earth” revive the Isis reference but it’s the quieter cuts that provide the album’s atmosphere. "Subterrestrial” sounds like distant whale calls in the ether, and "Emersion of the Islands” dives deeper into the murky depths. Yet ten-minute closing track "Leave” drifts in space tethered to one riff, striking a chord that post-Course of Empire outfit Halls of the Machine frequent on the opposite side of the pond. Lento truly exemplify the ambient soul of the Eternal City.