6. Hall Of Mirrors: Altered Nights
Hall Of Mirrors are Andrea Marutti (Amon) and Giuseppe Verticchio (Nimh). These sound artists have been active for twenty years by now as preeminent names inside the dark ambient and noise scenes. Altered Nights was released by Malignant Records, a long time running American label going to take the role once own by such a label as as Cold Meat Industry. The record is a real rite backed by some other Italian artists, for a sort of experimental all-star league: Pietro Riparbelli (K11), Vestigial (ex CMI), New Risen Throne (CMI and Cyclic Law), Andrea Ferraris and Subinterior. Because of these guests, this record turned into the most abrasive ever produced by Hall Of Mirrors, the one sporting the higher evil approach. Luckily, Andrea and Giuseppe left every goth cliché out of the writing process: just an impressive dark ambient without medieval choirs or debts towards Lustmord. The interaction was so productive that a second record had to be devoted to “Last Night: Late Summer Ceremony”. This is a 45 minutes-long sabbath that will make you see Italy as the land of the Etruscan cemeteries instead of the “Sunshine Land”. For sure, this is one of the best dark ambient/noise releases in 2012 and and a crucial gathering of all the artistic heirs of Maurizio Bianchi’s and Pierpaolo Zoppo/Mauthausen Orchestra’s (RIP) steps.
5.Father Murphy: Anyway, Your Children Will Deny It
Reverend Father Murphy was able to reunite all the editors at The New Noise. We always followed them, since their debut with the Madcap collective, so it’s great to see them on a label like Aagoo Records (USA), able to offer to their music an international spotlight. Their last release, Anyway, Your Children Will Deny It, hit and impressed us, both for the incredible ideas and the unique style. They match apocalyptic-folk and guitar parts reminding of most ancestral Swans. On stage, everything turns into a ceremony to homage the band’s personal myths. Federico Zanatta’s ghostly guitar, Chiara Lee’s percussions and keyboards and Vittorio Demarin’s frenetic drumming will guide you on a trip towards their imaginary, surrounded by nightmares and personal stories to listen to with care. Follow them while they are touring the planet. (thanks to Maurizio Inchingoli)
4.Bologna Violenta: Utopie e Piccole Soddisfazioni
Nicola Manzan is a Musician. I don’t mean a guy able to play a guitar, but a real composer and performer. He is one of those rare artists able to work with classical or extreme languages, to play a theatre or a squat, to cooperate with mainstream or underground acts, without losing a single inch of his strong personality and incredible touch. Bologna Violenta represents his own thing, his real and inner soul, to be honest, not a cute or nice one, more a place where nightmares and monsters live and hide behind the corner. Like something creepy lying under the bed or in the closet, Bologna Violenta comes out after dark to give shape and manipulate your fantasies with a post-grind recipe. “Utopias and Small Satisfactions” paints out Nicola’s art at its finest, providing some of his most extreme riffings and, on the other hand, revealing his classical background and studies. This is the best soundtrack for a personal Armageddon able to turn into a worldwide common ground, a sort of atheist funeral for the human race.
3.Inferno: The Fall And Rise And Fall Of Inferno Sci-Fi Grind’n’Roll
If 2012 is going to be the last year on Earth, Inferno provided the best soundtrack possible for this end, a trip back to the outer space for the alien-dinos living among us. They call it sci-fi grind’n’roll and you can trust this is the best description possible for their insane magma: grind energy, spacey mood, hardcore attitude, odd electronics, all mixed inside a venomous potion you won’t be able to resist. To fully appreciate Inferno’s assault you should attend a live show, but hurry up as they will disband on December the 21th, just on time to leave the Earth before the Big Bang. With Inferno irony isn’t a dead scene, that’s for sure. Just like anarchy is not a mere political matter, they’re the chaos theory put in action. You may call it a controlled chaos, but that’s not exactly the point. Inferno is far more an anarchic chaos forced into an extremely clean surgical approach: everything falls into a fitting spot, the right place to keep the building safe and avoid collapse. Inferno gave us the key and the method to ride earthquakes and tsunamis, so maybe we might even survive the Mayas. Call it the “hitchhiker’s guide to the judgment day” and you will be next to a fitting description.
2.Ufomammut: Oro
Ufomammut did it: they reached a new level and finally disclosed their full potential by means of a concept album split in two different parts. Oro (Opus Primum and Opus Alter) consists of an amazing trip, an initiatory path to dive into, without safe belts or parachute, just an open mind as only paraphernalia needed. If the first episode offered a rich texture able to completely leave the formal approach for exploring the belly of Ufomammut universe, the second one pushes this attitude even further and gives shape to a hypnotic lava vortex, a river flowing under a mountain and reaching the deepest core of it. Oro should be listened as a whole, to fully understand and grab its pure essence, and at a proper volume for hitting the room and your body with a full impact. The riffing is huge, thick, like a rock crashing on a car or, better, like a meteorite colliding with a spaceship, just to stress the spacey aftertaste and the odd feelings conveyed. It looks like the partnership with Neurot Recordings started in the best way possible, with one of the most impressive Ufomammut releases ever and a new level for their songwriting, a peak they will use as a baseline to explore new planets and even farther galaxies.
1. The Secret: Agnus Dei
It’s hard to describe the explosion of anger erupting from the speakers when you listen to The Secret, no comparisons can reveal in full this incredible mix of postcore, black metal, noise and everything falling in the middle. Pure fury unleashed in your ears and able to hold your soul by the collar, with such a direct and ferocious attitude you can barely have some rest to breathe some fresh air. Feedbacks, white noise, magmatic chords and dissected notes, everything participates in creating a Maelstrom where the vocals are fighting like the captain of a ship lost in a storm, ready to sell his life dearly. Even when they decide to seldom slow the things down for a while and to add some atmospheric parts, the result is anything but relaxing. It actually looks like being a subtle way to increase the level of discomfort in the hostile inner nature of their music. With their latest album, The Secret confirm as one of the most impressive acts around and deserve some serious spot inside the worldwide extreme scene, so be careful not to miss them both on record and on stage. There’s a reason why Southern Lord decided to spread their name all over the globe, it’s up to you to find it out.
thanks to Fabrizio Garau
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