Riccardo Moccia – Freewill (2021)
From his concept album Sensed, Riccardo Moccia has unleashed his heavy metal single ‘Freewill’. The single is one step in the story of the album that looks at the evolution of the universe from the point of view of a Being of Light. Drawing on ancient scriptures, the track and album fuse death metal sensibilities with universal evolution and harmonic singing.
There are a lot of elements that Moccia has picked up and blended to create the interesting tones of this track. With a rhythm that is derived and inspired by Indian Konnakol, he creates an interesting contrast between aggression and meditation. If you are looking for metal music that has a very unique edge, this is definitely the song that you should start with.
‘Freewill’ thrashes its way into your ears from the first moment. There is a heavy pounding to the beats that bolster the pulse of the guitars allowing them to shake up your inside. The energy of the music is rather intense as it coils in your muscles and makes you want to move. While the energy is full-on from the first moment, there is a melodic movement that rises from the depths and soothes the aggression of the metal sounds. This humming tone warbles through the high layers of the melody like a chanting song. It is wonderful to hear in contrast to the heaviness of the music.
Through all of this, Moccia’s death metal vocals growl and scream through your senses. While you might imagine that there is darkness to his performance, there is much more to it. Woven into the passionate delivery is a knowledge of awakening and the offer of something greater than yourself. While the majority of his performance is death metal growls, there is a use of traditional chants that adds to the mythological edge of the track. This is particularly apparent in the latter parts of the track.
Riccardo Moccia combines traditional chanting with death metal sensibilities while getting your muscles vibrating to his melody in ‘Freewill’. The single pushes you into the metal tones from the first moment, but there is this higher hum that lightens the weight of the thrashing guitars. His vocals are primarily death metal but the use of traditional chants adds depth to the track and makes you eager to hear what the rest of the album has to offer.
Find out more about Riccardo Moccia on his website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
