The first full-length record from Rubedo, Massa Confusa has a lot going on. It borrows from world, metal, classic rock. As an album it’s not entirely cohesive because of all the random sounds. But there are bright spots in the individual tracks, and at least the randomness means it would be hard to get bored of the band’s sound. All in all, this is a solid effort from a band with a very unique vision. No FCCs detected. Recommended: 4, 5, 7.

1. 0:59: Varied instrumentals, included steps, chimes, water dripping, rattles, and lots of other cool things I can’t make out. Purely instrumental.
2. 4:49: Rough, scratchy, anguished voice, mostly a capella but with some rattles. At about :45 gets distorted, sounds like it’s underwater – but the roughness has been smoothed out.
3. 6:43: Dark, distortion, sounds like more standard metal. Heavy, jamming guitar riffs.
4*. 4:47: Really pretty guitar melody, switches between softer sweeter melodic parts and heavy-hitting percussion-y driving rock.
5*. 4:23: Catchy, lilting chorus set to marching band-esque beat.
6. 3:28: Slow and plodding, sounds island-y. Downtempo, lacks the hard guitar riffs and intense percussion which feature prominently in other songs.
7**. 5:04: Rich vocals accompanied by piano; percussion and guitar eventually join. Scratchy and gorgeous vocals. Builds to instrumental climax.
8. 1:58: Electronic, wobbly beat (uncharacteristic for this band), with some distortion and percussion near the end. Purely instrumental.
9. 5:33: unoriginal lyrics (see: Demi Lovato); nothing really stands out. Still a solid effort that would be fine to play.
10. 5:40: down/mid-tempo, clean pretty vocals, some reggae/world-stuff going on.

-DJ Mir