Date: 5th April 2019
Location: Trecentosessanta gradi
Price: 10 €
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As I anticipated in Live Gigs of the Week #4, on 5th April 2019 there was at 360 a death metal night mandatory for every maniac of this genre. In fact, the bill was very interesting since there were 4 Italian bands with, at times, an excellent reputation in the underground death metal scene. In addition, the headlining band, Teleport, came from abroad, exactly from Slovenia, and I have already to confess that they surprised me a lot as I never could imagine! But now what's about the entire show?
Well, the first band on the stage was Bedsore, that, just in 360 played their live debut in December 2018. Some impressions of mine about that first time are remained the same. In fact, I love them when they play their psychedelic but violent death metal with wild vocals but I don't love them when they play those atmospheric parts that are too long and without imagination. At this point, I suggest to Bedsore to play, for example, some guitar solos during those atmospheric parts in order to make these ones deeper and more effective. Another negative thing about their show comes from the general sound, that was truly chaotic and full of deafening feedbacks. Nevertheless, Bedsore, the only band from my Rome, are surely talented, but they are so close to reach really the excellence if they only improve their assault!
After the psychedelic assault of Bedsore, the show became more traditionalist with Ferum, a band from Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, heavily inspired by bands like Cianide (it isn't a case if they played also "Funeral", a song of that Chicago-based band) and Derkéta. I mentioned Derkéta not only for the style but even for the fact that Ferum are essentially a trio mostly composed of women, that are Samantha (vocals/guitars) and Angelica (drums), while, for the live gigs like this one, they are a quartet with two guitarplayers. Playing songs taken from their only "Vergence" EP (Unholy Domain Rec, 2018) and kissed by a sound that is improved a lot after Bedsore (and it was very good also for the rest of the bands), Ferum played a show that oppressed us through a death/doom metal that, altough it isn't in my usual tastes (you know, I prefer the faster stuff!), engaged very well the attendants.
Of the third band, Ekpyrosis (from Lombardy), I reviewed their debut album "Asphyxiating Devotion" (Memento Mori, 2017), so I was very curious to see them on stage, also because their style, strongly in the vein of Incantation and similar bands, it's much more my speed. The show by Ekpyrosis, the only one characterized by stage effects like some smoke, was truly intense thanks not only to a pure brutality alternated with more doomish parts and to very great songs like "Immolate the Denied" but even to the double vocals, divided between Nicolò Brambilla and a hallucinated Marco Teodoro. During their show, the intensity was so high that a cymbal of the drums failed something like 3 times! Nothing else to say, Ekpyrosis has been one of the best bands during the night!
Instead, with Assumption, the night returned to the ultra-heavy death/doom fields. Comprising members playing in other notable acts of the calibre of Gravesite, Haemophagus and Stasis (Fuck, I saw them at the Torre Maura Occupata squat on 19th January 2019 for a crust punk night!), Assumption are a duo from Sicily morphing into a quartet for the live gigs. They play a very interesting kind of death/doom style that includes, among others, mega-oppressive passages close to funeral doom metal, ambient parts with synths, some strange moments which can be described as experimental, and very long songs that can reach even the 15 minutes of duration (gulp!). Said this, their debut album "Absconditus", released after 7 years into the ranks, was edited in different formats, also in cassette by Sentient Ruin Laboratories, a partner of Timpani allo Spiedo 'zine.
And now, it's time to talk about the surprise of the night: Teleport! I was tremendously excited to see live these guys, also because a label like Edged Circle Productions (from Norway) was so captured by their last demo "The Expansion" to release it in CD format just on 5th April 2019. But, even though they exist since 2010, they had still to release their debut album, that, I hope, will see the light of the day as soon as possible. Anyway, Teleport played with a gigantic intensity, showing an old-school style that's technical and violent at the same time and also characterized by complex structures and sci-fi lyrics. Besides this, the intensity of the Teleport's show was increased a lot by two factors: the pounding thrash metal influences from time to time (but you can find also some black metal solutions); and the occasional black metal screams of the singer, that are truly fukken frightful! Now, there is need to say that one of the guitarplayers of Teleport (that was wearing a t-shirt of Reptilian, a fantastic death/thrash metal band from Norway) played before on stage with Assumption. Instead, very strange, at least if compared with the rest of the members, was the very nerd look of the live session guitarist that, during the entire show, was behind the singer. But, obviously, this is only a fact of pure trivia since Teleport, that on 6th April ended a Italian 3-day tour just along with Assumption and Bedsore, kicked a lot of asses and, for me, they have undoubdtedly been the best band of this death metal night!So, Sycamore Shows striked again by putting up a night full of talented and young bands that have still to say a lot of cool things in the future. In addition, I had a lot of fun also because I met old and new friends, so the company was truly excellent! Closing this live report with exciting news, Sycamore Shows will strike again very soon, always at the usual location of 360, on 18th April 2019, when there will be a black metal assault headlined by Wayfarer, a US band that combines, believe it or not, the black metal with western movie influences!
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