Title: Immortals
Genre: Thrash metal
Year: 2016
Time: 51 min
Rating: 84/100
The
inclusion of Reverber into this ‘zine has a very curious story: some months
ago, their singer/guitarist Marco Serafini posted a request on the FB group
“True Metalheads de Roma” (managed by me) because he was in searching of some
‘zines available to give a voice to the underground metal bands. Obviously, I
replied naming the two ‘zines in which I involved, heavymetalwebzine.it and,
naturally, Timpani allo Spiedo ‘zine! Et voilà, today I’ll talk you about the
fantastic debut album of Reverber, “Immortals”, self-released on 19th
March of 2016 directly from Rome Caput Mundi after a tormented story started in
the now far 2007 counting, in addition to the aforementioned album, only the
“Serial Killer Metal” 2010's demo followed by a temporary disbandment.
Fundamentally, these 4 Praetorians plays a US thrash metal inspired by bands like Exodus, Slayer and Metallica, with these ones very listenable also into the merciless solos à la “Hit the Lights”. But all this is played with good taste and personality showing a bunch of ideas and frequent touches of modernism throughout the 9 songs of the album, with the result to combines the old-school thrash metal with the modern one. Anyway, warning because “Immortals” is a difficult album since the various songs are so well-structured that many of them lasts even 7 minutes. The tracks are so interminable also because the band loves the long instrumental parts with well-assembled climaxes where there is an excellent interaction between the guitarists Marco Serafini e Alessio Alessandretti (this one is considered even like the main responsible of the radical musical change of Reverber during these last years), spewing forth a bunch of guitar-hero solos that are wild and virtuoso at the same time. In addition to all this, the aggressive vocals of Marco, sometimes very close to the ones of Tom Araya, are able to make the entire music in a more intense way.
In view of
the above, I said everything about “Immortals”, an amazing album especially
during its start and its end but not
completely during its central songs, also if the bassplayer Valerio Strada is a
bit under shadow. Anyway, Reverber are a brave band because they are able to
create long songs without losing in intensity and coherence and also because for
an old-school thrash metal style eager to go beyond its classic borders. Right
now, all you have to do is supporting this band in every way, also watching the video about the making of "Immortals" (above)! After the death
metal band Morbo, here you are another metal pride from my city on these raw
pages!
Tracklist:
1 – Immortal
2 – The End of Your Life
3 – The Shining
4 – Amnesia Post-Murder
5 – Kamikaze
6 – Justice is Dead
7 – Eighteen Hundred
8 –Cancrena
9 – Ride of the Heroes
Alessio Alessandretti – guitars
Valerio “Er Nutria” Strada – bass
Alessio Stazi - drums
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Reverber/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9yAlAfCCnPDEn9E6wCjrIA
Fundamentally, these 4 Praetorians plays a US thrash metal inspired by bands like Exodus, Slayer and Metallica, with these ones very listenable also into the merciless solos à la “Hit the Lights”. But all this is played with good taste and personality showing a bunch of ideas and frequent touches of modernism throughout the 9 songs of the album, with the result to combines the old-school thrash metal with the modern one. Anyway, warning because “Immortals” is a difficult album since the various songs are so well-structured that many of them lasts even 7 minutes. The tracks are so interminable also because the band loves the long instrumental parts with well-assembled climaxes where there is an excellent interaction between the guitarists Marco Serafini e Alessio Alessandretti (this one is considered even like the main responsible of the radical musical change of Reverber during these last years), spewing forth a bunch of guitar-hero solos that are wild and virtuoso at the same time. In addition to all this, the aggressive vocals of Marco, sometimes very close to the ones of Tom Araya, are able to make the entire music in a more intense way.
Speaking
about the intensity, the album starts with its more violent and purely thrash
metal song, “Immortal”. This track, characterized by a bestial performance by
the drummer Alessio Stazi, is also the shorter of the entire album with its
almost 4 minutes of lenght, almost an absurdity for the band!
After
“Immortal”, the thrash metal of Reverber becomes more and more inventive.
And, especially, the initial song’s trio formed by the same
semi-titletrack, “The End of Your Life”
and “The Shining” is absolutely amazing, practically perfect!
Specifically,
“The End of Your Life” is a complex thrash metal number where the violent side
and the melodic one collide to end the song with strangely melancholic
melodies. Instead, “The Shining” is, in my opinion, the absolute peak of the
album with its 7 minutes where, for example, the intro is gloomy and dark and
where there is a long and exciting instrumental part with the addition of some
experimental riffs.
The things
are stranger with the following “Amnesia Post-Murder”, so starting the
second song’s trio of the album, less effective than the previous one . In fact,
this track starts and ends in “berserker mode” with a totally unchained Marco
with his intimidating screams but, surprisingly, the middle section of
“Amnesia…” is so melodic to has romantic ballad tones! Anyway, it’s a shame
that, after this melodic part, the band restarts the initial fury of the song
maybe in a too forced way, so I think that the guys should develop differently
this restart.
After that,
there is“Kamikaze” with its Arabian scales and its central dramatic part.
“Justice is Dead” follows but, surprise!, it is an interminable mega-ballad
where Marco sing in clean vocals with good emotion, also if the band lingers
too much in an instrumental finale that should be reduced to be better.
Fortunately,
the last trio of song is very fuckin’ good, almost at the same levels of the
first one. Then, Reverber restarts to play their unpredictable thrash metal
with “Eighteen Hundred” while “Cancrena”, another surprise, is an incredibly
horrific instrumental track but characterized by some initial malevolent
whispers. Finally, “Immortals” ends with a super-bang due to “Ride of the
Heroes”, where Reverber combines their thrash metal with an epic heavy metal
feeling to shock every listener through a literally funambulist lead section
made also of a kind of twin guitar solo, listen to believe!Tracklist:
1 – Immortal
2 – The End of Your Life
3 – The Shining
4 – Amnesia Post-Murder
5 – Kamikaze
6 – Justice is Dead
7 – Eighteen Hundred
8 –Cancrena
9 – Ride of the Heroes
Line-up:
Marco “Mitraja” Serafini – vocals/guitarsAlessio Alessandretti – guitars
Valerio “Er Nutria” Strada – bass
Alessio Stazi - drums
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Reverber/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9yAlAfCCnPDEn9E6wCjrIA
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