__ __
_()__::_ _::_ ___:::___ ___:::____ _::_ _()_
||_> '|_> _ \ | | | | | | ||
|| |------ \ | | | | | | ||
== |> / | ____:____ | | | |> ==
|| | / |\ \ | | | | ||
|| / ------ \ | | ||
||\__ _____/| _ _______:_____/ \_____ _____// ___________||
`/ | _> | _> | > | _> | _> \'
|/ |/ |/ |/ |/
! ! ! ! !
Artist......: Coltre
Album.......: To Watch With Hands... To Touch With Eyes
Year........: 2024
Genre.......: Heavy Metal
Type........: Album
Label.......: Dying Victims Productions
Language....: English
Source......: WEB/FLAC (16bit)
Quality.....: 848kbps / 44.1 kHz / Stereo
Tracks......: 8 tracks
Playtime....: 00:51:54
Size........: 314.2 MiB
R.Date......: 2026-07-15
S.Date......: 2024-02-23
Url.........: https://open.qobuz.com/album/i0io774y48jba
01. Feast of the Outcast 7:00
02. To Watch With Hands... To Touch With Eyes 6:32
03. Rat Race 5:00
04. When the Earth Turns Black 7:00
05. Friends Aren't Electric 5:54
06. Through the Looking Glass 6:50
07. Temptress 6:10
08. Oblivion 7:28
COLTRE are a heavy metal band based in London, formed in
the summer of 2019 when lead guitarist Daniel Sweed and
guitarist/vocalist Marco Stamigna crossed paths at the
same university. Bassist Max Graves, who also attended
the same university, soon joined the lineup. The trio's
shared passion and creative ideas laid the groundwork
for their debut release, the EP Under The Influence.
Between September and November of 2019, COLTRE
diligently worked on the EP, initially developed as a
four-track mini-album. In December of the same year,
they released the single "Crimson Killer." Under The
Influence made its debut in February 2020, initially in
a self-released CD format, a true DIY edition. The EP's
success caught the attention of DYING VICTIMS, who
sought to collaborate with the band. This collaboration
resulted in the re-release of Under The Influence in
multiple formats, including an additional track (the
song "Fight"), in July. The year 2020 concluded with the
addition of Edoardo Mariotti to the lineup, taking on
the role of drummer for the band.
With the quartet now complete, COLTRE embarked on the
arrangement and development of songs that would
ultimately become their debut album, To Watch With Hands
To Touch With Eyes. If the moody metallic majesty of
Under The Influence was a portent of things to come,
then To Watch With Hands To Touch With Eyes takes
everything to the next level. COLTRE's charismatic sound
is still in place, thankfully - dark 'n' mysterious
riffs, vigorously galloping rhythms, epic-yet-direct
compositions, and the sage-like pipes of Stamigna atop
it all - but there's crucial distinctions here. For one,
there's a crisper sound at play across the LP; the
recording's sharper yet still rustic, perhaps a bit more
hard rock in style than the NWOBHM of its predecessor.
As such, the band suitably sound even livelier and more
locked-in than before, with Mariotti's many-armed
drumming in particular guiding COLTRE to new
destinations (and dungeons, and battlefields!). Further,
their songwriting still hovers around six minutes per
track, but everything feels more compact without losing
the latent epicness. Most crucially, there's a strut and
swagger across To Watch With Hands To Touch With Eyes
that's IMPOSSIBLE to deny, such on the Tubeway
Army-spoofing "Friends Aren't Electric."
One could still be mistaken for thinking COLTRE were
some unearthed relic from the original NWOBHM movement,
so hot-rockin' is their swords-aloft surge, evoking high
fantasy and urban grit in equal measure, but most
importantly retaining that pivotal rock 'n' roll thrust
Thin Lizzy largely gifted to that movement. But, with
increased dynamic interplay and impossibly stronger
songs, To Watch With Hands To Touch With Eyes wipes the
slate clean and casts COLTRE as new "old" monarchs in
the making!