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Category: Ferum

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There’s no question about the indelible mark Chuck Schuldiner left on the worldwide metal scene through the work with his band Death. That the world lost one of its greatest innovators was clear even back then and even moreso now. In the ensuing decade since Schuldiner’s passing in 2001 various bands have sprung up to fill the void left by Death. The darkness of the catacombs gave the world the likes of Ekpyrosis, Ferum, and Amthrÿa (all of whom worship at the altar of Death in more primitive ways). The obvious candidate to carry on Schuldiner’s legacy is German act Obscura, now defunct Californian unit Insentient (fronted by Leslie Medina) but also Southern Italy-based Resumed. This Italian quartet debuted in 2014 with the rather unassuming but highly impressive “Alienations” and now, four years later, return on Danish label imprint Mighty Music (once home to Iniquity, among others) with “Year Zero”. Suffice to say, “Year Zero” was well worth the four-year break in between releases.

Hailing from Abruzzo in Southern Italy Resumed formed under the name Holy Terror in 2007 with the earliest line-up consisting of core trio of Daniele Presutti (vocals, lead guitar), Carlo Alfonso Pelino (bass guitar) and Filippo Tirabassi (drums) as well as Nikolas De Stephanis (lead guitar). Before independently releasing their “Human Troubles” demo recording in 2009 the four changed to their current moniker. In 2012 De Stephanis bade the band farewell after which Pelino took his place on lead guitar and Giulia Pallozzi was brought in on fretless bass guitar. Two years later “Alienations” was released to little fanfare but obviously stirred enough interest for Mighty Music to offer the Italian quartet a recording contract. As with their debut “Year Zero” fuses influences from forgotten Italian technical death metal pioneers Desecration (“The Valley Of Eternal Suffering”) with established American – and European institutions as Atheist (“Piece Of Time”, “Unquestionable Presence”), Pestilence (“Testimony Of the Ancients”, “Spheres”), Theory In Practice (“The Armageddon Theories”, “Colonizing the Sun”) and, of course, Death (“Human”, “Individual Thought Patterns”, “Symbolic”). It’s an impressive showing to say the least, especially from a band little over a decade old.

What makes Resumed different from a good majority of their peers is that their tempo is far lower and their approach is more song-based. Italian death metal, at least the way it is understood since the early millennium, propagated itself as a more mechanical, theatrical interpretation of the Polish or Brazilian sound. As such it tends to take after Internal Suffering, early Nile with a dosage of “De Profundis” Vader to even things out. Hour Of Penance, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Hideous Divinity are probably the most recognizable names specializing in that particular flavor of Italian death metal. Resumed brings a sense of finesse, elegance, and sophistication back to death metal. On the whole “Year Zero” very much sounds like “The Armageddon Theories” era Theory In Practice without the keyboards, or the kind of album that Death could have released in between “Symbolic” and the more power/progressive metal inclined “The Sound Of Perseverance” (which was never conceived nor intended as a true Death record to begin with). The death metal that Resumed specializes in never rages, blasts or stomps but indeed flows just like the most enduring Death records. Like on “Human” there’s a sense of tranquility, restraint, and control to “Year Zero” that’s seldom heard these days. Some might find this a bit slow for their taste, but that doesn’t change how well written it is.

While arguably lead guitarists Daniele Presutti and Carlo Alfonso Pelino are the stars of the record and offer up a veritable avalanche of solos, the importance of Giulia Pallozzi’s bass guitar cannot be understated. In tradition of Cliff Burton (Metallica), Chris Richards (ex-Suffocation), Tony Choy (ex-Cynic), Mike Poggione (Monstrosity), Steve DiGiorgio (ex-Death, Autopsy, et al), Jeroen Paul Thesseling (ex-Pestilence, ex-Obscura), Éric Langlois (ex-Cryptopsy), Niklas Dewerud (ex-Spawn Of Possession), and Erlend Caspersen (ex-Blood Red Throne) her funky licks flow above, below and in between the tides of riffs. Likewise is drummer Filippo Tirabassi a paragon of restraint, control, and finesse. As with their debut “Year Zero” too deals with the paranormal and the extraterrestrial. Whether or not the literature of famous Italian ufologist Mario Gariozzi on the subject was any inspiration we’ll leave in the middle, but it’s far more interesting than what these bands typically write about. From the production work you’d never guess that 16th Cellar Studio and producer Stefano Morabito were involved in its creation. It’s unusually smooth on all fronts and nothing like, say, the recent Internal Suffering album that Morabito produced. In general we’re not the biggest fans of what comes out of 16th Cellar Studio with “Year Zero” as the exception that proves the rule.

As heir apparent to the legacy of Chuck Schuldiner and Death “Year Zero” is as good as this thing tends to get. Resumed is not quite as hook-oriented as Obscura is on average and their songwriting is never as collected and streamlined as it was on “Symbolic”. As good as “Alienations” was “Year Zero” is in all ways superior. If there’s anything that the Stefano Morabito production has improved upon it’s the drum tones. On “Alienations” they were almost mechanical and sterile sounding, here they sound full-bodied, organic and naturally warm. Keeping up with traditions from “Alienations” the artwork was rendered by Davide Mancini. It’s comforting to see young bands sticking with what works. “Year Zero” confirms that Resumed are the heirs apparent to the throne vacated by Death in 2001, even though a tribute act like Gruesome is obviously far more popular than they’ll ever be. Resumed is refreshingly bereft of any contemporary influences and if there’s any justice in the world “Year Zero” will introduce them to a much bigger audience. With the promotion department from Mighty Music behind them Resumed is destined to become a much bigger player.

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One of the greatest perks of reviewing music (if you manage to overcome or, better, avoid becoming a bitter jaded cynic that no longer gets excited by anything in the process) is discovering talented musicians waiting to break out and seeing the formation of new bands as they happen. Ferum (no, this band isn’t called Perun, even though Cianide obviously was a key influence and they even cover the song ‘Funeral’ from them) is an Italian death/doom trio that is barely a year old but already scored a recording contract with Everlasting Spew Records and Unholy Domain Records for their debut EP “Vergence”. Ferum is made up of three seasoned underground veterans (two of whom have been in a band together earlier) and it’s evident that the darkness in the Italian catacombs is very much alive. It’s a rare and distinct pleasure discovering a band this young that has conceptualized its vision and overall direction of choice so precisely. Ferum is one such band and it makes a scribe as yours truly content to be a music critic.

Angelica Pinetti (left), Samantha Alessi (middle), and Matteo Anzelini (right)

Samantha Alessi is a girl in the Italian underground metal scene whose progress as a songwriter and musician we’ve been monitoring with great interest over the last couple of years. Suffice to say the redhaired miracle has been in a number of different constellations during that time, but the newly forged Bologna-based Ferum (Latin for “fierce”) is the first unit where she is in complete creative control. “Vergence” (or ‘the simultaneous movement of both eyes in opposite directions to obtain or maintain single binocular vision’, also sprach the infinitely wise Wikipedia) is a summation of virtually every band and genre Alessi has dipped her tiny toes in prior to its formation in 2017. Samantha is a girl close to our black heart. Bodacious, vivacious, multi-talented (she plays guitar and bass guitar next to her singing) and with an excellent taste in music to boot. To be entirely frank we were sold on Ferum without even having heard a single note of music. Samantha has put her money where her mouth is. Acta non verba. “Vergence” thankfully lives up to every one of our assumptions in terms of how we imagined Ferum would sound.

For an Italian band Ferum sounds distinctively Swedish. At least as far as its riffs are concerned. “Vergence” is permeated with the influence of Unleashed (“Where No Life Dwells”, “Shadows in the Deep”) and Necrophobic (“The Nocturnal Silence”), its charnel doom passages recall the darkest moments of early Asphyx (“Embrace the Death”, “The Rack”) as well as Autopsy’s “Mental Funeral” whereas the general direction is somewhere along the lines of Death’s primitive beginnings with “Scream Bloody Gore” and “Leprosy” with a thoroughly morbid and decrepit disposition not unlike Blasphereion. Samantha’s sickly rasps and bellowed grunts sound absolutely monstrous without ever becoming overly guttural or exceedingly serpentine. Matteo Anzelini’s bass guitar is positively thundering with a full-bodied tone that would make Demilich and Gorefest proud. Angelica Pinetti’s drumming is fitting for the style holding the middleground somewhere between Kyle Severn from Incantation, Ilaria Casiraghi from Ekpyrosis, and King Fowley from Deceased (circa “Luck Of the Corpse”). In other words, these two girls and guy know their underground classics, and it shows. Ferum plays it far closer to the chest than, say, Amthrya – but like them “Vergence” is bereft of any modern influences, which is one of the EP’s biggest selling points. The only thing we sort of miss is a nicely laid out explosive guitar solo or two, but that's mere nitpicking, not a complaint.

‘Siege Of Carnality’ is equal parts “Seven Churches” Possessed, Death circa “Scream Bloody Gore” and any early European death/doom metal pioneer of note with a churning Swedish death metal main riff. ‘Perpetual Distrust’ has guest vocals from Marko Neuman from Finnish funeral death/doom metal combo Convocation (their debut “Scars Across” had some of the greatest artwork in the underground this year). It is by far the most Incantation sounding track of the EP, which is never a bad thing. During its more psychedelic moments it is reminiscent of now defunct Riti Occulti (circa 2012) without said band’s overt retro occult metal imagery and production aesthetic. ‘Subconscious Annihilation’ further explores the doom metal direction of the preceding track and hints that Ferum could very well head into a diSEMBOWELMENT “Transcendence into the Peripheral” direction if they so desired.

Not even the closing (and somewhat swinging) psychedelic stoner riff feels out of place eventhough it stands in stark contrast to the rest of the track. ‘Funeral’ is played true to form and Ferum is at its best when playing slow grinding deep cutting Cianide riffs. The brooding outro ‘Ed è Subito Sera’ (‘And then it is Night’) is a black as pitch dirgey doom waltz in tradition of Winter, Sempiternal Deathreign, and (who else?) Cianide set to a poem of Sicilian novelist, Hermetic poet and Nobel laureate Salvatore Quasimodo with a prominent place for Anzelini’s bass guitar. There’s a minor undercurrent of psychedelic – and stoner doom metal to some of the riffing and overall atmosphere with Ferum. Not exactly surprising considering some of Alessi’s and Pinetti’s prior bands but it tends to contrast heavily with their fully realized traditional death/doom metal direction.

If one was to compare Ferum to any of the classic bands it would be earliest Hypocrisy, especially “Penetralia” and “Obsculum Obscenum”. Like that band Ferum has the meanest crunch and Samantha’s beastly bellows are as everlasting spewed and vociferously vomited as any of the classic European death metal bands. The similarity in delivery to Acrostichon circa “Engraved In Black” is fairly obvious. Over the last fifteen or so years Italy has become the new Poland in terms of housing some of the fastest, most mechanical and inhumanly technical death metal that is about as glossy as it is soulless. Thankfully that movement is now countered by a resurgence of so-called “cavernous” death metal acts out of the underground. Ferum clearly knows their American and European genre classics. There used to be a time when death metal like this didn’t came with the redundant old school or cavernous prefix and things were easier and simpler back then. Ferum has no intention of reinventing the wheel and they don’t do so either. There’s a dire need for bands as Ekpyrosis, Ferum and Amthrya that defy convention where/whenever they can. Modern death metal tends to retroactively date itself through the usage of all of the usual cover artists and production techniques. Ferum lives and breathes death metal the way it was intended. Samantha never disappoints, and neither does she here. The Latin proverb corvus oculum corvi non eruit never rang truer.