- - -

THE BLACK :
PECCATIS NOSTRIS / CAPISTRANI PUGNATOR

I gotta say one thing right up front, Doom-Metal sung with Italian vocals is extra freakin' cool, no ifs, ands, or buts. I guess for me, it's the "old-world" or religious connotations, but whatever it is, it makes the whole thing sound more ominous, and some how, more ...credible, or kind of official. Maybe I've just seen way too many 70s satanic horror films, who knows? It's sort of like having a monk from some forgotten mystic order, reading the text from some ancient tome over Sabbath inspired riffs. You think that sounds cool? Well guess what? It is! But, I'm getting ahead of the game, let's back up a bit. Mario Di Donato, the guitarist/vocalist and main-man of The Black, is a well-known figure in Italian Heavy Metal. The band has no less than five previous releases going back as far as 1992. This latest slab of Doom (the first in four years) is actually two concept albums, which have been released as a single CD (packed to the sonic tits with a running time of 76:05) and also as two separate LPs. The first part of the disc, or the first LP, is called "Peccatis Nostris", which is Italian for "The Seven Deadly Sins". So of course, if you have seven sins, you need seven songs, one for each possible blasphemous transgression. The second part (or LP number 2) is called "Capistrani Pugnator", which translates to "The Warrior Of Capestrono", and is inspired by the strange "Capistrano Warrior's statue" found in Italy, here we have a short intro and four long songs, the last of which lasts 14 minutes! Musically, Black Sabbath is obviously an inspiration, but there are also traces of modern doom and gloom like early Paradise Lost and Katatonia. Both the riffs, and the atmosphere are super thick, and doomy as hell, but there are also instances were the speed factor is increased a bit, and hints of Thrash make an appearance in the mix. Sometimes a song starts to overstay its welcome, but it never gets out of hand. As I said before, I totally dig the Italian vocals, even though they are kind of sparse. On the first part, Mario does them all himself, and they're more spoken or chanted, rather than sung. On the second part we have additional vocals from two other singers, Eugenio Mucci and Ben Spinazzola. This helps mix it up a bit, and makes these tracks sound more like traditional songs. Not quite sure which I like better, but both manage to create a brooding, haunting atmosphere. This is some good stuff that any Doom fan would appreciate having in their collection.
RATING = 8 Doom-Metal (Released 2004)

- - -

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U/V W-Z

SOUNDTRACKS TRIBUTES COMPILATIONS

GOT A PROBLEM WITH ONE OF MY CD REVIEWS?
DO YOU AGREE WITH ME?
THEN GO TO THE

- - -

"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls."
 -Bruce McCulloch K.I.T.H. '91

Sign Guestbook View Guestbook
Old Guest Book

HOME

IF YOU THINK MY CD REVIEWS SUCK, CLICK HERE!

urotsukidoji_1@yahoo.com

This page hosted by GeoCities Get your own Free Home Page