PONTE DEL DIAVOLO - De Venom Natura review

 

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO - De Venom Natura

Self Released

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO is an Italian band I learned about in 2024 with their debut full length Fire Blades from the Tomb. That one came out on Season of Mist records. This new one is a self release which to me seems crazy because this band is killer. Musically PONTE DEL DIAVOLO answer the question as in what if Siouxsie Soux from the old English Post Punk band SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES fronted a Blackened Doom / Post Punk act. 

I liked their debut album a lot. They also have a compilation of their three early EPs which came out in late 2024 on Time to Kill Records. That's something I really wanna pick up but for now we have this seven song full length. You've got six originals and a cover of BAUHAUS's "In the Flat Field". Ah hell yeah on the BAUHAUS cover. 

For me this is better than their debut. The songs come across as more intricate whether they be Blackened Doom or the Gothic Post Punk stuff. They even throw in a trombone player on one song. There's also a duet on "Silence Walk With Me" featuring Gionata Potenti from the Italian Black Metal band NUBIVAGANT. Of course for me it's the amazing vocals by Erba del Diavolo which wins me over along with the overall sound and atmosphere the whole band produces. 

In the end yeah this is a winner. Of course I'm shocked this release is not on a label whether small or large. I mean what the fuck is going on here?  

LISTEN AND BUY IT HERE:

https://pontedeldiavolo666.bandcamp.com/album/de-venom-natura

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO - Fire Blades from the Tomb review

 

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO - Fire Blades from the Tomb

Season of Mist

So imagine if you will Siouxsie Soux fronting a blackened doom band. Now if you don't know who Siouxsie Soux is then you're at a loss so let me explain. Back in the late 70's English punk scene there was a band called SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES. They started out as a punk band playing around the same time as the SEX PISTOLS. When the 1980's came into play they moved into a more goth/death punk sound. They were huge during that decade. They continued on into the 90's but I stopped following them by then. 

Anyways the singer for this Italian five piece act, Erba del Diavolo, is a dead ringer for Siouxsie Soux's vocal style. Add to that this band has two bass players, one guitarist and a drummer. You take Erba's combination of vocal styles add the rich guitar lines and the double thick bass plus drums. Well you've got a winner with me that's part nostalgic and part crushing. This their debut full length, after three EPs starting in 2020, is a mix of the blackened doom and a lot of goth textures. And I'm talking about that good goth from the 80's and not that trendy crap from fifteen years ago. 

While opener "Demone" is probably the blackest and fastest this album gets. The following cut "Covenant" is where the band shines in their gothic doom dreary glory. Having a guest musician add in the creepy theremin sounds just adds icy terror. As far as the rest of the tracks go the doom and goth aspects rise to the top. Erba's mix of frenzied howls, goth pop vocals or airy witch like sing/speak like tones are the jewel amidst a musical crown of thorns. "Red as the Sex of She Who Lives in Death" is probably the peak with all styles woven into one amazing song. 

The final cut "The Weeping Song" is a duet which Erba is joined by Davide Straccione of the Italian blackened doom band SHORES OF HULL. The song is also a NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS cover. Do I have to explain who that is as well? Be that as it may I love this album a lot. It's definitely late night doom sounds which comfort you while cast spells upon your later dreams.  

https://www.season-of-mist.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://pontedeldiavolo666.bandcamp.com/album/fire-blades-from-the-tomb

PREDATORY LIGHT - Death And The Twilight Hours review

 

PREDATORY LIGHT - Death And The Twilight Hours 

20 Buck Spin

This blackened doom act from New Mexico originally started out around a decade ago. And from their beginning they were on a roll releasing some short form stuff plus their self titled full length in 2016. And then nothing as if they got lost out in the desert high on peyote. But that really didn't happen. It sounds good though. 

The four members of PREDATORY LIGHT basically started a new band called SUPERSTITION. That was / is a somewhat blackened death metal act which sound-wise was not far from what PREDATORY LIGHT sounded like except no doom. That band had a full length, The Anatomy of Unholy Transformation, from 2019 which also came out on 20 Buck Spin. 

But now these guys are back with PREDATORY LIGHT. Musically it's a continuation of where they left off with their debut. You've got some prog rock touches mixed with doom ala haunting goth and of course it's all blackened. When I heard the opening track, "The Three Living and the Three Dead", which is a thirteen plus minute opus I was like cool. 

The album is just four cuts long. Musically I love the guitar work displayed because it's mostly tremolo picked lead work. The second thing I like here is the superb drum work. The vocals are of that blast furnace throat variety. Unfortunately there's not much bass to be really heard but there's some synths. 

Song -wise like I said the opening track is majestic albeit sounding familiar to another BM act from the past, NEGATIVE PLANE? Another good long cut is "Death and the Twilight Hours" which is hypnotic as well as majestic and ominous. Like I mentioned before this release is four tracks with a running time of just over thirty-eight minutes. Decent.

https://www.20buckspin.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/death-and-the-twilight-hours 

RADIEN - Syvyys review

RADIEN - Syvyys

Black Bow Records




Ya know I've reviewed so much sludge metal releases this year that I'm wondering if I should change the name of the blog to SCUMFEAST SLUDGE 666. That's a joke by the way, fuck you I ain't changing the damm name. But seriously a lot of sludge metal releases have come my way in 2018.


RADIEN's full length debut was tagged as sludge metal. I've been listening to this four song release every night for a week (it's night time music) and there's so much more going on here then just sludge metal. RADIEN hails from Helsinki, Finland. Even as the first cut played I couldn't help but think this is a nation that has given so much artistry to metal music. Whether it's beauty you're looking for or brutality and of course contemplation of sadness it's been Finnish musicians who have created a cannon of greatness. But mere sludge metal?


Syvyys thankfully is not mere at all. Listening to this is like being dropped onto a blackened doom nightmarish landscape. Yes it crawls along at times in a grim and harsh manner. Between torturous screamed vocals as well as spoken word bites the music creates this atmosphere of bleak desolation mixed in with claustrophobic fear. I loved how on "Hetki" in it's opening course the band borrows from SABBATH's self titled cut. Instead of being horrific it's more like you're being dragged up to a monolithic god of doom to decide your fate.


Mere sludge metal, not at all. RADIEN's debut is pure agony as if you're awaiting an execution but must endure torture from within your imagination. This release came to my attention from a message on my SFM666 Facebook page. Strange since I usually get stuff sent in from a PR person who regularly sends me stuff from Black Bow Records. 


http://www.blackbowrecords.com/

https://radien.bandcamp.com/album/syvyys

https://www.facebook.com/radienband/

GRAVECOVEN - Coughing Blood review

GRAVECOVEN - Coughing Blood

Godz ov War Productions




Here we have a two piece act from California (what again?) One member, Phillip Gallagher, is responsible for all the instruments while the other, James Rauh, takes on vocal duties. It's bands like this, aka: two members/huge sound, that you wish could actually perform live. Maybe they'll get some session players in the future.

GRAVECOVEN have been around since 2015 and this five song EP is a collection of everything they previously released on their two demos and a single of which they cover "Hades" by BATHORY. As far as their style and sound goes this two piece is blackened doom. That's a very under explored extreme metal genre to say the least and not to be confused with blackened death doom. Yeah I know all these sub-genres get confusing and can get a bit silly but there is a difference.

What GRAVECOVEN bring to the table is fast and loose. The riff package is varied and mired in filthy distortion. Vocals are either cavernous howls or secreted venomous screams. The rhythms vary from slow crawls, machine like pounding and of course mid paced tremolo runs. In the end it's the musical equivalent of getting hit with a hammer multiple times.

http://godzovwar.com/

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/coughing-blood

https://www.facebook.com/GraveCoven/