Hailing from Rome, Italy TOTHEM was founded back in 1998 and has released two demo CD’s so far. With a new bassist added to the band’s rank, they worked with Starship Records, releasing their first EP including two songs from Prey and two new songs. At least that’s the info I could find, since everything was written in Italian.
TOTHEM are living on the stunning voice of Roslen Bondi. She ranges in a wide array, even in opera-like fields, without sounding too high and too affected. Musically speaking the band blends Metal with Gothic, added by symphonic elements and growls by axe man Danilo, but he cannot set any real accents. The last both tracks Poisoned Heart and Angel fall into an experimental, psychedelic sound with a slight jazz touch. Even some flute tones are to find. It all reminds me sometimes of the experimental extremists Atrox. As a result this CD sounds quite off the trolley and one surely needs to get used to it. But on the other hand it also shows talent and the guts to do something else than the mainstream does. And TOTHEM has a special flair that probably only can be created by Italians. Roslen is really cool but the rest need to jazz up their skills, songwriting and arrangements.