2008 UK expanded reissue of the Italian Death/Doom Metal band"s third album, originally released in 1999. This edition features three bonus tracks including rare demo versions of album cuts. Ever since their formation in 1990 under the name of Catacomb, the Italians have risen to become one of the leading names in atmospheric Death/Doom Metal; having recently released 2 albums on Peaceville Records with Materia (2006) and last year"s highly acclaimed album, The Blue. Classica evoked many traits of Progressive Death Metal, and is often compared to the earlier works of Opeth. Intricate melodic guitar passages effortlessly skip between acoustic atmosphere and distorted heaviness to give a good contrast to the album"s overall sense of mood. The vocals of Carmelo Orlando further heighten the emotion with impressive clean vocal passages blending with the classic "growled" style so familiar to the genre. Peaceville.