I’m going into The Blessed and the Evil fully blind as I’ve not really heard much from Belmondo.
Getting Closer opens with a nice instrumental section and as vocalist Carmen Mellino’s almost haunting vocals kick in, we see the instrumentation stripped back to basics. The second verse is a lot more haunting and creates an eerie atmosphere, mostly done surrounding the vocal delivery and it sounds really good.
The Journey of Moses on the Nile has a catchy ‘Like Moses drifting up the Nile’ hook and Ventriloquists mixes things up with some extremely eerie instrumentation at the start before kicking in with a sick bass line.
Bethlehem is the closing track on the EP. It’s one of the lead singles and I can see why. It builds in intensity and is an extremely personal song for Carmen. It’s quite understated during the verses to allow the lyrics to shine through, with the instrumentation picking up again during the breaks. This works well to ensure the vocals are the focal point.
The EP has some great instrumentation throughout and Carmen can adjust her vocal delivery to suit the atmosphere and intensity well.
If you’re looking for something dark that pulls elements from classic rock to an almost hypnotic light metal sound, then check out Belmondo.