Trisol Music Group continues to collect talents from the gothic-darkwave sphere. The Roman quartet SPIRITUAL FRONT did not escape the fate of being signed to this well-known underground label. Having announced themselves in 2001 with the full-length debut "Nihilist Cocktails For Calypso Inferno," released on the Old Europa Cafe label, along with several singles and splits, the musicians signed with Trisol in 2006 and released their new album there.
"Armageddon Gigolo" is a highly original blend of SOL INVICTUS-style dark-folk rock and the chamber symphonics of CHAMBER, achieved with the help of nine guest musicians — eight string players and one percussionist. So what exactly makes the Italians' style so original? The very first song "Slave" opens with a waltz rhythm overlaid with guitar picking in a Wild West style. And yet — there's no country music here whatsoever. Those same cowboy motifs appear on the next track "Bastard Angel," only now the foundation is tango! In principle, such stunning fusions don't appear elsewhere on the album — the remaining compositions are kept in a more classic gothic dark-folk vein. However, the Wild West atmosphere, coupled with the ironically carefree vocals of Simone Hellvis Salvatori — somewhat reminiscent of Nick Cave and Tony Wakeford — reigns throughout the entire album and lends the sound an extraordinary charm of dusty, scorching Texas and hot-blooded Italian mafiosi. This is apparently one of the reasons critics coined the term "mafia folk" for SPIRITUAL FRONT's style.