CRUSHER Magazine: punk/metal/hardcore/industrial: Review: Bellamorte

     Made up of songs written over a three year span, The Quiet is a schizophrenic trip into the minds of Andy Deane and Gopal Metro. The release has tracks of industrial power and precision followed by punkish garage rock tunes. This lack of focus definitely hurts the band, as no particular sound is fully explored. As Bella Morte fine tune their craft, they should lean towards the electronic, as the dark new wave/synth pop songs outshine the rock attempts on this release.
     Songs like "First Light" and "Whispers" are beautiful sadly-optimistic ballads. Good synth work duels with emotional vocals over smooth beats to create an atmospheric texture that is truly tantalizing. The true beauty of those dark poems are counterbalanced by some of Bella Morte's other attempts at finding their own sound. Some of the other 'electronic' songs (like the title track) come off as poor Sisters of Mercy knock-offs, while the rock stuff (especially the bass-heavy "Living Dead") should just be avoided.
     As a whole, The Quiet shows why cds are better than tapes - no time needed to fast-forward past the album filler and other unfortunate songs. Should these guys embrace their dark wave leanings, then there won't be a single reason to press any other button than play ...

	BELLA MORTE THE QUIET METROPOLIS	LINKS: ontherisenyhc.com iscreamrecords.com
	New wave music was a genre that was exclusively a phenomenon of the '80s. But, in the ever-expanding world of music, more and more bands are seeking to find their identities, and good numbers of them are finding it within their history. Virginia's Bella Morte are one of them. The group, founded back in 1996, combine new wave with goth and industrial to produce their new album The Quiet.
Made up of songs written over a three year span, The Quiet is a schizophrenic trip into the minds of Andy Deane and Gopal Metro. The release has tracks of industrial power and precision followed by punkish garage rock tunes. This lack of focus definitely hurts the band, as no particular sound is fully explored. As Bella Morte fine tune their craft, they should lean towards the electronic, as the dark new wave/synth pop songs outshine the rock attempts on this release. Songs like "First Light" and "Whispers" are beautiful sadly-optimistic ballads. Good synth work duels with emotional vocals over smooth beats to create an atmospheric texture that is truly tantalizing. The true beauty of those dark poems are counterbalanced by some of Bella Morte's other attempts at finding their own sound. Some of the other 'electronic' songs (like the title track) come off as poor Sisters of Mercy knock-offs, while the rock stuff (especially the bass-heavy "Living Dead") should just be avoided. As a whole, The Quiet shows why cds are better than tapes - no time needed to fast-forward past the album filler and other unfortunate songs. Should these guys embrace their dark wave leanings, then there won't be a single reason to press any other button than play ...
----Scott Olivenbaum