Location: Fucksia, Dragona (Rome)
Date: 8th February 2019
Price: 10 €
If I say correctly, Fucksia was opened one year ago but it has already acquired a very good reputation especially within the metalheads. This because it is a cultural association in which there isn't only a music school named Full Metal Academy but also a sort of pub fit for the live gigs, giving space not only to the emerging bands of the Roman area but also to International bands. For example, nothing else than Fleshcrawl played at Fucksia on 9th February 2019 while Vicious Rumors will be there on 10th April. In addition, Fucksia has been moved very recently to a new (and better) site, close to its old one. In all this, there is a big con: this place is located in Dragona, a suburb of Rome close to Acilia, so it is a bit far from what is stricly considered as the city of Rome. This means that Fucksia is difficult to be reached if you haven't a car. In fact, thanks to a friend of mine (thank you very much, Luca!), on 8th February I reached the place by car because I wanted to destroy my ears with a death metal night in which there was a huge line-up including, in chronological order, Thecodontion, Gravestone, Nihilo from Switzerland, and Antropofagus from Genoa, Italy. Let me say already that this has been a night for the ages!
The opening band was Thecodontion, that 2 months ago played their live debut (obviously, I was there!). In comparison with that time, these 4 maniacs are improved a lot in terms of intensity, and they amazed me especially during their last songs. Within the songs in the set list, I must mention "Berosaurus Lentus" ("...but it's not slow!", as said by the singer Heliogabalus), the new single taken from their upcoming EP "Jurassic". Sure, some flaws found during their live debut are remained (for example, the poor skills by Thecodontion to engage the attendants), and the singer has some attitudes that are a bit "anomaly" for a band like this one (like when he joked with one of the bassplayers) but fuck that! At the end, Thecodontion are representing a breath of fresh air, also very appreciated on an International level, for a Roman metal scene that lacks of similar and so crazy bands!
Following Thecodontion, there were Gravestone, also from Rome. Since they were reunited in 2013, they did many great things, especially in these very last years. To mention a few, they played on Summer 2018 in a Greek festival where they supported bands of the calibre such as Septic Flesh and Moonspell. In addition, the good show by Gravestone is surely granted also because their line-up is composed of veteran musicians like the drummer David Folchitto, that is so hyper-active to play, at least, in 666 bands, included the porno maniacs Prophilax (that I saw the last Summer at the Rock'n'Roll Garden!) and Stormlord (speaking about them, I've still got some very old issues of an Italian metal magazine called Grind Zone that were also about them. Fuck, it's incredible but David still had the short hair!).Said all these bullshits, Gravestone played very well, showing their elegant black/death metal enriched by a horror atmosphere thanks to the keyboards of Massimiliano Buffolino. If I remember well, they had some troubles with the bass speaker but they were resolved in few minutes. Within the songs, they played also the titletrack of their new EP "Proud to be Dead" (Sliptrick Records, 2017), whose Gravestone made a promotional video. A little consideration of mine: the guitarplayer Marco Borrani (that lives very close to me!) plays his instrument with an incredible soft touch!
After Gravestone, it was the turn of Nihilo from Bern, Switzerland. After reviewing them, after interviewing them, and after putting their third album "Doom" (Art Gates Records, 2018) into my TOP TEN 2018, I think that introducing again them is useless. So, you have to know that, as said by Damiano during the interview, Nihilo are seriously to be considered as a live band. In fact, they demonstrated this not only by spewing forth a killing intensity throughout their gig but also by inciting the public through many ways, also through a speech, in ITALIAN, by the drummer with clear Italian origins Damiano Fedeli during a break, and this pushed the public to support better Nihilo! Perfect has been the live set, that was mostly focused on the songs of "Doom", so Nihilo started the hostilities with "Abuse of Confidence" (Ragulan entered on the stage at the end of the intro of this track), and ending them with the fantastic and hardcore punk-oriented "Antichrist" (that's my favorite number!) after playing in a stellar way the creepy "Doom"! Of the other songs, I remember that they played also tracks such as "Fueled by Suspicion" and the grinding "Deceptive World". In brief, I am going to say already that, for me, Nihilo have been the best band in this night, and it isn't a case if I moshed (ALONE!) during some songs of their set! And anyway, it was memorable for me the moment in which a totally drunken man pushed me in order to mosh together for only 5 crazy seconds haha!
And here comes the headliners of the night: Antropofagus! These veterans are in the scene since 1997 (except for a long break from 2002 to 2009) and have as a drummer that Davide Billia who recently had a little part as vocalist in the magnificent debut album by Godless Entropia. Well, their date in Rome was part of their Italian mini-tour, along with Nihilo, from 7th to 9th February, touching also Florence and Matera.Destroyed very well by Nihilo, I have to confess that Antropofagus engaged me very sloooowly. Even in the middle of their set when the atmosphere became so hot that 6 metalheads briefly moshed, I was incredibly cold, and this is strange for a headbanger like me that always try to search the fight! But, fortunately, after a while Antropofagus started to affect me, so I moved very close to the stage. So, I was especially surprised a lot by the labyrinthine riffs of the guitarplayer (that was wearing a t-shirt of Xenomorphic Contamination', another very good Italian brutal death metal band) and I was wondering how it is possible to him to play this kind of riffs in a such speed without framing his own fingers haha! At the end, "...as if it wasn't programmed!" (as said by the singer), Antropofagus, pressed by us, played an encore that, if I remember well, was a destructive version of "Living in Fear" by Malevolent Creation. After that, I was the first person to ask to the band to play a...double encore, but I think that it could be very fatal for the band after an intense show of this kind!
And now, what can I say? Simply: this death metal night has been fantastic, and not only for the music but also for the companionship. In fact, I enjoyed a good time by talking with, for example, Marco of Gravestone, Damiano of Nihilo, and Michele of the black metal band Ulfhednar. In addition, I finally met in person an old acquaintance of Timpani allo Spiedo 'zine (and my FaceBook friend for years) like Manlio aka Snarl of Black Faith, that was there to write himself a live report for his 'zine. Moreover, I got some photos along with Manlio, Damiano and also Ragulan! And I say hello again to Fabrizio Mecci, the owner of this fantastic place called Fucksia. Hey man, continue to host these gigs, also because they represent beautiful moments of aggregation! And sure, Fucksia is far but fuck that, it deserves a lot! So, SEE YA SOON, BRUTALBANGERS!!!
OTHER PICS:
THECODONTION
GRAVESTONE
NIHILO
ANTROPOFAGUS
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