Experts agree that talent and ambition are no longer enough these days for an act to get established in an increasingly demanding music market. It’s that unique, unmistakable, in other words that innovative element that makes an artist or a band stand out among the everyday fare of faceless acts. This is what’s commonly known as having “a profile” or “charisma”. The Dogma have both. They are that rare, sparkling diamond in a big jar full of glass pearls that immediately draws attention to itself, that’s distinctive and sticks out because it is so independent. Their debut album, Black Roses, was enough to convince press and audience alike of the qualities of the band from Italy, and A Good Day To Die, the second offering by Daniele Santori (vocals), Cosimo Binetti (guitars), Stefano Smeriglio (keyboards), Marco Bianchella (drums), and new addition Andrea ‘Masso’ Massetti (bass), proves that their inherently impressive talent has undergone an amazing development.Based on a cleverly orchestrated and emotive mélange of heavy metal, progressive influences and a sprinkling of gothic and symphonic elements, The Dogma demonstrate on A Good Day To Die the qualities that distinguish them from many other acts: “We play a very emotional brand of metal,” guitarist Cosimo Binetti reduces his band’s success formula to a simple denominator. “Every song is marked by a very special, very intense feel. And that’s precisely what our fans like about us. Every track is based on deep emotion.” Together with vocalist Santori, Binetti is the band’s main songwriter. He says: “This time, we had a whole cornucopia of ideas. There was so much new material that we could easily have filled a double album. At the end of the day, we settled on these twelve numbers, so we can be sure that we are presenting only the best songs on A Good Day To Die.”
The Dogma recorded a dozen versatile tracks (plus an intro) for their new release. From the catchy title track (Binetti: “A sad-but-beautiful song in a way, with a lot of atmosphere”) through the driving ‘In The Name Of Rock’ - which The Dogma wrote on the road during their tour with Lordi, still under the influence of the wild performances they had just delivered - to the sensitive ballad, ‘Autumn Tears’ and ‘Bitches Street’, a track about freedom and autonomy, the recording is pervaded by an amazing wealth of different facets. There is a moving story behind the final track, ‘Christine Closed Her Eyes’: “Christine was a fan of The Dogma. She sent us a little poem by e-mail every day. When these poems suddenly stopped arriving, I began to feel worried and contacted her family. Her sister told me that Christine had been suffering from depression for a long time and committed suicide. I was totally shocked and wrote this song in memory of her.”Like its predecessor, Black Roses, A Good Day To Die was produced and mixed by Siggi Bemm (Tiamat, The Gathering, Samael, among others) at the Woodhouse studios in Hagen, Germany. “It’s just fantastic how Siggi understands and translates our musical ideas,” says Binetti. “His work on Black Roses had been great, but the new album did not only see us progress, Siggi also surpassed himself.” The awesome voice of guest vocalist Lisa Middelhauve (Xandria) on the title track and ‘Angel in Cage’ also deserves a mention. So in view of this illustrious line-up, it’s no coincidence that an impressive offering like A Good Day To Die
Coincidence appears to have played a significant role when it came to the foundation of The Dogma: Cosimo Binetti had come to a chapel in the Italian town of Ancona to bury a friend. Both he and Daniele Santori, who happened to work there, consider their meeting a stroke of fate: “It just had to be,” the two surmise, “two reprobates such as us simply had to meet at some point.” Binetti and Santori established contact even during the funeral service, talked at length about their musical ideas and decided to form a band. The fact that Santori is into gothic metal while Binetti prefers his metal the traditional way did not stand in the way of their plans. The opposite seems to be the case: listening to the result of their musical liaison, it’s this particular friction that accounts for the special flair of their music.
The Dogma played their first shows in summer 2001, followed by countless concerts since, among them the tour with Finnish monster rockers, Lordi, in autumn 2006, which saw the young act gain maturity and gather experience. Their first demo, which sold surprisingly well by mail order, particularly in Germany, arrived in 2002. Their debut album, Black Roses, came out in spring 2006, and the band has been going from strength to strength ever since. “So much has happened,” Binetti muses. “Lots of fans have written to us to tell us how much they like the band, we played the Wacken Open Air last summer and have even had enquiries for shows in the States. These experiences have helped us on a personal as well as on a musical level. That’s what you can feel in every single note on A Good Day To Die.”
