Description
Keygen Church, the brainchild of technologist/songwriter Victor Love (Vittorio D'Amore), have digitized their new album, Nel Nome Del Codice, for Metal Blade Records. Love, also of 8-bit phenoms Master Boot Record (MBR), is a one-person outfit, writing and recording via undisclosed real-time stream events, where the dedicated (and lucky) bear witness to Keygen Church's spontaneous creative process. Like previous alt code/text art-titled albums ? ? ? ?(2022) and ???????????? (2022), Nel Nome Del Codice is a modern-primitive love letter to doom/gothic/black metal with foundations in Baroque-era Classical and Romantic-era music. This time, however, Love has refined his sonic tool kit-"the complete set of sounds," he says-the aftereffect of which is computerized big-hall libations like "La Chiave Del Mio Amor," "Nel Nome Del Codice," and "Lode Al Disco Sacro."
Love's work in Keygen Church is homage and innovation. He's a fan of ciphers-astute fans will have to figure out where they're used on Nel Nome Del Codice. The logo is ASCII art, a 'graphic language' created by bulletin board system (BBS) users in the early days of the Internet. While the cover may appear minimalist initially, the 1-bit pixel art by Germany-based illustrator Valenberg (VirtuaVerse) signals Keygen Church's ascent to their final form. If the metamorphosis is complete, Love's journey to Nel Nome Del Codice has been inspiring. The refined craftwork of "Lode Al Disco Sacro," "Sulla Via Della Gloria," the nearly eight-minute closer "Sempre Nel Mio Pensiero" beholds darksome liturgical majesty, the likes of which we're hearing/experiencing for the first time at our respective pews.