Seclusion

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Those who collect a lot of obscure European progressive rock albums of the '70s will instantly recognize the doomy gothic sound of Penumbra's third album. Sounding like a cross between Barclay James Harvest and Uriah Heep, Penumbra mix a heavy dose of female vocals (by the siren-like Anita Covelli), rococo instrumentation (oboe, bagpipes, various other wind and reed instruments), and Eastern European folk melodies with heavy riffing and loud rock guitars. Late-era Queensrÿche or King's X are touchstones as well, but there's a definite European quality on these eight lengthy tracks more in common with the outer fringes of the Dutch and German goth rock scenes of the '80s, a slightly pretentious devotion to semi-classical structures between the headbanging passages. In fact, it's always a bit disappointing when lead guitarist Dorian gears up, because the more becalmed sections of this album are uniformly its most intriguing, suggesting that Penumbra could be followers of the art rock likes of Controlled Bleeding with only minor emendations to their sound.