Pagliacci - Yours Sincerely, Sister Josephine

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All Metal projects share one common feature: a leader must be ahead of the whole thing, carrying the responsibility to compose the songs, invite musicians, and all those parts of recording songs. It’s a matter of will, and to believe in yourself. So we can say that the Hungarian keyboardist Zhivko Koev is a guy with guts, because he carries the conceptual work of PAGLIACCI on his shoulders. The first fruit of his efforts is this EP, “Yours Sincerely, Sister Josephine”. On the EP, we can find a solid work based upon a concept, and all the songs are used to tell the listener the story. Then, we have a Symphonic Metal with some deeper and introspective touches from Gothic Rock here and there. Of course this same formula was used many times before the band, but the elegant and grandiose insight used makes all sound fresh, new and with personality. It’s a very good work.

The production was done in a way that the priority is to sound clear to show all the elegance of the musical arrangements of each song. Of course it is heavy and has that aggressive touch that Metal albums must have, but it is focused on the creation of a musical environment that can sustain the story. “Dear Brother Dominick” is an elegant introduction to the wonderful “Black Flowers” (filled with very good orchestrations and excellent female voices), and “So Sane” (very charming guitars and good vocals duets) and “Wise Men & Lunatics” shows fine rhythmic changes and hooking melodies. And “Calling Melchizedek” is a hypnotic narrative following an introspective and dense melody. All these five songs are here to prepare the listener for the upcoming album, called “The Village of Madmen”.

They are a fine band and I hope the next album is as good as “Yours Sincerely, Sister Josephine”.

Originality: 9
Songwriting: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 8