Reading description for Nova and being presented by the intro and first few minutes to Guerra per il firmamento you may indeed think this album will be medieval minstrels presenting their art. The Italians certainly keep the folk medieval angle to their brand of black metal in mind, but Soli Contro il Mondo is no In Extremo. You can’t imagine this music being played by a wandering troupe wearing leather jerkins, strange instruments over their shoulders. The realization comes when melodic maelstrom of Guerra per il firmamento starts churning above hammering drums. Raising pressure Nova varies tempo between various double bass speeds and slips into outright blasts at times. Shouting fire breathing vocals also shows the gritty side of “minstrelism”. Nova old age musical artists wear ironclad heavy vests, not thin torn leather jerkins and kilts.

The premise of Soli Contro il Mondo is very enticing and Nova often do a good job of setting the song up (Pietra della corona de Lucifero, title track) with some new dominant melody emerging. Often after that, however, the focus on melody is lost and almost too much emphasis is put on the muscular foundation, so compositions begin to blend front to back and between them (Contro il drago e il toro, Universo campo di sterminio). A brief bagpipe moment (Pietra della corona de Lucifero) would help to break things up a bit, but Nova cannot succumb to soft folksiness with their aggressive posture, so things are what they are - rugged, burly, but not very diverse. A short barbaric instrumental Ad Apollo is then a standout moment, just because it is different. When Nova take a towering threnody at the beginning and convert it into a triumphant finish, much more profound effect is felt immediately (Terra dei morti). More moments like Terra dei morti ending would have pushed Soli Contro il Mondo much further forward.