RanestRane - Nosferatu Il Vampiro - 2009
“a homage to Werner Hertzog's film Nosferatu - The Vampire”
intro
RanestRane is a band from Italy that is making music inspired by classical cinema. The band’s first rock-opera is a homage to Werner Hertzog’s movie “Nosferatu ... The Vampire” (1979). We all remember some scene’s from that movie with leading roles for Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani and Bruno Ganz. The storyline is as follows; Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Varna, where Jonathan lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoul living of men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Varna, bringing with him death and plague ... the vampire bears the curse of not being able to get old and die. The band has performed the music of this double CD on stage while projecting scenes from the original movie. RanestRane uses excerpts from the original soundtrack to assist the story.
line-up
Matteo Gennari - bass; Daniele Pomo - vocals, drums; Massimo Pomo - guitar; Riccardo Romano - keyboards, programming
review
First of all I must make the remark that I'm happy that the band decided to sing in their own language and has chosen the Italian soundtrack. This gives the music a better atmosphere.
So this album is entitled “Nosferatu Il Vampiro” and is divided in an “AttopRimo” (CD 1) and an “AttoseCondo” (CD 2). Both parts have fourteen tracks. On “AttopRimo” you can find the following songs; “Il Sogno Di Lucy”, “Lucy”, “L’ufficio Di Reinfield”, “Passera Presto”, “Via Da Wismar”, “La Locanda Nel Villaggio Degli Zingari”, “La Montagna”, “Sono Quasi Arrivato”, “Il Castello”, “L’assalto”, “Il Risveglio”, “Il Contratto”, “Saranno Giorni Tristi” and “Che Giorno Maledetto”. And on “AttoseCondo” you can find the songs; “La Nave”, “Che Succede”, “La Riunione Del Consiglio”, “Finalmente Qui”, “Ritorna”, “La Nozione Dell’amore Mancato”, “Il Diario Di Jonathan”, “Adesso So Il Perché”, “Alla Ricerca Del Conte”, “Gli Ultimi Momenti Di Wismar”, “La Morte Di Mina”, “L’ultimo Incontro”, “Il Ritrovamento” and “Via Da Wismar”.
I won't review this album track by track but instead will try to describe the atmosphere of the music. Daniele Pomo brings the lyrics with a lot of passion. He plays an important role in this rock-opera. The music is typical Italian, you can feel the passion and emotion. I love the use of the excerpts of the original soundtrack (Italian version) of the movie. It is completely integrated into the music ... well done. You can hear a lot of delicate vocal lines, tasteful guitar and keyboard parts on this album. The music has often a mellow character and you can find wonderful melodies on this album. For example in the tracks “Il Castello” and “Che Giorno Maledetto” on CD 1 and “Ritorna” and “La Nozione Dell’amore Mancato” on CD 2. On the last three tracks of the album, “L’ultimo Incontro”, “Il Ritrovamento” and “Via Da Wismar” the tension of the music is building up to a climax (gran finale!).
conclusion
“Nosferatu Il Vampiro” is a very strong album. Not only an album for cinema lovers but also for the lovers of Italian progressive rock. You can find some wonderful melodies on this album. The used fragments of the original soundtrack are fully integrated into the music. This album frequently resides in my CD player. The album grows every spin. This year the band released their second rock-opera. A tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “The Shining” (1980), a film with leads for Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. So maybe RanestRane's story on progVisions will be continued. The high quality of their debut album “Nosferatu Il Vampiro” has surprised me!