Fueled by the success of their latest album “Turning Point,” the five modern prog rebels NEREIS from Italy have already made a name for themselves with extensive tours from the southern tip of Europe to the rugged Baltic region. Now they are back once again: matured by their own musical journey, more sophisticated in their compositions, but also more thoughtful – after all, they were one of the last metal acts to thrill thousands of fans with their wistful music in both Ukraine, which was still untouched at the time, and neighboring Russia.
With their new album “AZURE,” announced for November 21, the still relatively young musicians continue their mission to gently and respectfully help the beloved classic heavy metal and hard rock, which made up a significant part of their youth and early career, evolve.
In the process, the revelry and yearning of early hard rock romanticism meets a dash of robust prog metal, coming together to create an atmospheric density reminiscent of a powerful film soundtrack. NEREIS themselves describe this approach as follows: “What we wanted was to create a sound that could satisfy the hard rock nostalgia in us and our audience, while conveying a sense of freshness and experimentation, all the while maintaining a catchy and easily understandable character.”
A first taste of “AZURE,” produced by renowned orchestral musician and conductor Davide Dalpiaz, is already available in the form of the brand-new video single “Around the Sun”:
Listen to “Around the Sun” on the platform of your choice: https://orcd.co/nereisaroundthesun
The intensely groovy track, which is one of the most moshable on the new album, describes – in a brutal yet comforting way – the travails of both the individual and humanity in the face of disruption and renewal, as we orbit the sun in our fragile spaceship Earth: “Every now and then, change is necessary, and it happens in the most violent way possible. In order for there to be a chance to rebuild, sometimes what came before must be destroyed,” explains the band, adding: “For life on this planet to thrive, all of us living beings endure, fight, conquer, and lose in our cyclical journey around the sun—until, having reached the maximum number of winters and summers allotted to us, we make way for those who will come after.”
Like “Around the Sun,” “AZURE” is all about the cosmos as a calming constant in all life. Again and again, the gaze is directed from outside toward Earth and its narrow, seemingly ephemeral blue ribbon that protects us and allows us to breathe. In the music itself, it is often possible to sense where the inspiration for “AZURE” originated: from the pioneers whom we can only propel away from the planet’s surface with extreme force, freeing them from the clutches of gravity for a brief moment so that they can grant us this view of ourselves in the grand scheme of things.
Pre-save “AZURE”: https://orcd.co/nereisazure2
About NEREIS.
Founded in 2007 under the name Black Star in Trento, Italy, NEREIS initially started out as a cover act, touring Italian pubs with hits by greats such as Helloween, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Skid Row, Judas Priest, and Alter Bridge until they had enough original material to release their demo “Burnin’ Game” in 2012, followed by the EP “From the Ashes” (2014).
During this time, the band played dozens of shows, e.g. with Chris Slade (ex-AC/DC), Riot V, Royal Hunt, and Arthemis, performed at festivals such as Sun Valley Metal Fest and Rock im Ring, and finally released their successful album “Turning Point” on Eclipse Records in 2018, for the first time under the new name NEREIS. The album was so well received that NEREIS subsequently toured extensively with Three Days Grace and Bullet For My Valentine.
Meanwhile, the band moved from their original guitar-dominated sound towards a concept in which the boundaries between the instrumental layers blur: Sometimes the guitar follows the vocals, sometimes the vocals follow the guitars. Synth inserts form a meta-level that holds everything together atmospherically and makes the music seem like a soundtrack at times, without ever falling into the trap of sounding like a canned orchestra.
In a sense, the synths do not play a primarily decorative role here, but one that can best be compared to that of a mediator. Together with the powerful foundation of bass and drums, they mediate between the guitar riffs and the vocals, which are thus able to maintain a state of perfect duality. To this day, bands such as Alter Bridge, Muse, Audioslave, Shinedown, and Europe are among the major influences of the quintet, which, after several lineup changes, consists of Andrea Barchiesi (lead vocals), Mattia Pessina (guitar), Samuel Fabrello (guitar), Michele Gelmi (bass), and Davide Odorizzi (drums).
Lead singer Andrea in particular stands out with his vocal range and professes Joey Tempest (Europe) as his vocal role model – even the water bottle Andrea uses to keep fit during shows belonged to Joey Tempest until a Europe show in 2004, when Andrea caught it after it was thrown into the audience. He has held it in honor ever since. What the singer, who was also active in a Europe cover band he had founded at the time, could not have imagined yet: 20 years later, in September 2024, NEREIS were even able to open a Europe show at the Trentino Music Arena themselves, after being personally selected by their Swedish idols from the participants in the TMA Contest.
With this stable and tour-experienced lineup, the new album is now on the horizon. It’s named “AZURE,” and NEREIS fans will probably simply remember it as The Blue Album in the band’s distant – and hopefully bright – future.
NEREIS are:
Andrea Barchiesi – lead vocals
Mattia Pessina – guitar
Samuel Fabrello – guitar
Michele Gelmi – bass
Davide Odorizzi – drums
NEREIS online:
https://www.nereisofficial.com
https://www.facebook.com/nereisofficial
https://www.instagram.com/nereisofficial
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChAFfq_WspGXMkaaR3qMIAw
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 