Belle Morte – “Crime of Passion” | Progressive Rock Central.com

Belle Morte is holding on to my favorite album of the year position so far this year, with their new album, Pearl Hunting. It is an amazing album that combines world music from performance artists globally, that they searched out to add to their concept album. Before this wonderful concept album was released, Belle Morte had success adapting the ideas and thoughts behind their first full-length album, released in 2021. The album title was, Crime of Passion, and it is inspired by John Fowles’s novel “The Collector.” As the band stated, “It tells a coherent story which started as an unhealthy obsession and stalking, and resulted in murder, both from the sides of the murderer and his victim. Compared to our first EP “Game On,” “Crime of Passion” has a way darker sound and vibes. The story we tell here doesn’t have a happy ending, so you are witnessing how the situation unfolds, getting more and more intense and having a tragic finale.”

Belle Morte is a musical project from the Belarus capital of Minsk. They play dark symphonic metal with a gothic/progressive flavor and melancholic vibe. The band’s debut EP Game On, was released in 2018. In 2021 the band signed a deal with Italian label, Wormholedeath.

Belle Morte is made up of: Anastasia Schebrova, she is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and songwriter; Sergey Butovsky, who plays bass guitar, creates arrangements, does the sound production, and sings backing vocals; Maria Shumanskaya, plays keyboards, and violin; Ilya Rogovoy and Ilya Petrashkevich, both play guitars; and Rostislav Golubnichiy, plays drums.

Crime of Passion is, as the band warns, a deep, dark, exploration of the feelings and impulses that go into stalking, possession, and ultimately murder. They are honest in telling you up front. They do a deep dive into searching out both sides of the subject matter, and how each subject or character in the original novel, and lyrics contained, may contemplate their thoughts and actions. As the band warns, there is no happy ending and for that reason, I would recommend only those who want to go down the path of discovery discussed, search out this album.

I did like the opening “Overture” track, with its mysterious violin and orchestration. “Who Are You” is also a good song. From there on, it gets increasingly darker. Anastasia Schebrova’s vocals are excellent as always. She absolutely knows how to bring out the emotion of this album so well. She modulates her voice so well. You don’t hear the same note, repeatedly, like many of the vocalists in metal. Her delivery is sophisticated and emotive. She is now one of my favorite metal singers. The music is dark and perfect for the subject. Sergey Butovsky’s arrangements and compositions create a perfect soundscape for this dark music. His vocals on “My Little Demon,” are the perfect way to handle male vocals in a dark metal album. He doesn’t need to growl or scream; he can scare by just using normal vocals and dark lyrics.

It has not changed my feelings towards Belle Morte in any way. But if you are searching for an album to buy, I would advise “Pearl Hunting,” and maybe bypass “Crime of Passion,” unless you are really a mystery novel lover. If you are a mystery novel lover, then, this is exactly what you are looking for in a musical interpretation. They do an honest and full-throated job of bringing the book to life through songs and videos. The music is up to par with the music played on “Pearl Hunting.”

I used to enjoy reading Stephen King’s novels, and other mystery horror novels, and that is why I was interested in this album in the first place. I wanted to see if they could bring the novel to life through music. Success! However, I found that my interest has deeply waned since my 20s. So, unless you are ready to explore what I’ve mentioned above, do what I am going to do, wait for Belle Morte’s next album, and hope that it will be more like “Pearl Hunting.”