AN NCS INTERVIEW: PONTE DEL DIAVOLO

 Interviews  No Responses »
Mar 212024
 


photo by Cristina Ferrero

(Through the good graces of Season of Mist, the distinctive Italian black/doom metal band Ponte del Diavolo released their debut album last month (reviewed here by our own Andy Synn), and that provided the impetus for Comrade Aleks to reach out for the interview we now present.)

Even though black metal in its pure, true, and evil form isn’t associated with Italy, there are a few interesting bands there with their own authentic view of this genre. Sometimes their uniqueness is rooted in a mix of black metal with other genres, sometimes it’s their native aesthetic or cultural references, and sometimes it’s both.

Ponte del Diavolo was founded in 2020 by Abro (bass), Laurus (bass), Segale Cornuta (drums), Nerium (guitars), and Erba del Diavolo (vocals). Only Abro and Laurus previously played in different death, black, and doom metal bands; as for the other members, Ponte del Diavolo was a new outfit.

Season of Mist released Ponte del Diavolo‘s debut album Fire Blades from the Tomb on the 16th of February. These six stories of authentic and passionate romantic black metal with doom influences and female vocals are complimented with a cover of Nick Cave’s “Weeping Song”, another good reason to pay attetion to this album.

We had a talk with several of the band’s members about the new album and other things. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 042024
 

(Andy Synn presents four artists/albums from February that may have flown under your radar)

While I obviously love putting together these “Things You May Have Missed” columns and using them as an opportunity to highlight a handful of bands that you (and we) might otherwise have overlooked, one thing I don’t love is having to compromise and make hard choice about who to include, and who to leave out.

Sure, keeping it to just four entries is a lot easier on my typing fingers (and a lot less demanding of my time) but I absolutely hate the fact that I have to leave so many deserving releases off the list.

So, please, as well as listening to the quartet of releases I’ve selected to highlight this month, try and make some time to check out the latest records from Fange, Pyra, Stiriah, Devine Defilement, Vanta, Terramorta, Theophonos… and, well, I could go on!

Continue reading »

THE WEEKS AHEAD (AND SOME MUSIC NOW)

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Dec 232023
 

I didn’t name this column “Seen And Heard On A Saturday” because it’s not the usual assortment of recommended new songs and videos, though I do have a few of those in here at the end. Mainly I wanted to let people know what’s going on at NCS and what the next few weeks will look like.

We’re still in the midst of our annual Listmania orgy, though nearing the end of its main phases. Our Readers’ Lists (in the comments on this post) are still growing, and the only way that stops growing is when people lose interest in 2023 and wholly give themselves over to 2024. We’ve completed rolling out the lists we traditionally share from bigger platforms than our own. And we’re well along in the rollout of lists from our writers and usual guests.

At this point I have three more of those latter lists to present, in addition to the final two Parts of Neill Jameson‘s 5-part list. I’ll get all of those posted in the coming week after Christmas Day. Another list or two might arrive after I write this, and might spill over into the week after next.

Next week I’ve also got three premieres on the schedule, and then five more for the first week of 2024. But beginning that week, things are going to have to change around here. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: WITCHTHRONE, ALKYMIST, IMPERIAL SAVAGERY, SCOLOPENDRA, PONTE DEL DIAVOLO, DEKIRA

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Mar 152020
 

 

I think I overdid it yesterday. Putting together those two Overflowing Streams posts mentally wore me out. So I didn’t get a head start on this SOB post yesterday, and wound up figuring out what to do with it this morning. One consequence of the delay is that I decided to avoid writing about complete new releases, which is more demanding (even though it might not seem that way when you read my ramblings). Instead, I picked eight new individual tracks (some of them with videos) from six bands.

I’ll forewarn you that I veered a bit off course for this column and included songs that aren’t strictly black metal, but to my ears are close cousins. If you want stuff that’s more in the main line, you’ll find some in those Overflowing Streams columns.

WITCHTHRONE

The first item I selected is a new video for a new song by the Hungarian band Witchthrone, whose music has both post-metal and black-metal elements. Entitled “Shallow“, the song is one of four on their self-titled debut EP, which is set for release on March 20th. Continue reading »