Darkness/Oltretomba Split – Horned, winged and grim
Oh how I love the gems from the deep underground. The bands which deliver rock solid tunes, which makes you burn, but these bands are staying under the radar of the most. I really enjoy the black and white coverarts, screaming out for a heavy massacre, obscure stuff and rotting stink from the catacombs. And the split albums, where bands unite forces in order to show to the world the ugly face of the gravelands – lonely, leprous, falling apart, with disgusting breath of putrid flesh and wet soil. In these splits the the truth is well hidden, buried deeply from the greedy eyes of monsters. That’s why I enjoyed so much the Darkness/Oltreromba split, another gem in the great catalogue of War Productions.
Darkness are hailing from Navara, Italy and are playing “Raw Old School Narrow Minded Black Fucking Metal”. The quartet easily delivers four punching and very intense tunes, with nuclear raw energy and endless wrath. It’s a blast. Actually the guys really are presenting very good tunes, with not only old school arrangements. The tunes have the black metal heart and feel, and melody tremolos – and just that turned them into so good while I listened to.
Recorded in 2014, “Endless Wrath” and “Dying Alone” have never been released so far. “Let The Napalm Rain” and “Aemathien” are live versions from March 2016 and previously haven’t been released too. “Let the Napalm Rain” originally appears on the “Unholy Sacrifice” split cd with Decayed, and “Aemathien” originally appears on the “Let The Napalm Rain” first demo. “Aemathien” is eternally dedicated to the memory of Claudio Mariotti from Aemathien Distribution (R.I.P.).
The blasphemous duo from Oltretomba are from Italy too. Delivering black metal with Celtic Frost taste. It’s vomiting, arrogant, ignorant. The band call it RETROGRADE METAL, and it is the opposite the well know Avantgarde… This is the tone of all the 5 tracks by them in this spilt. “Motherfucker of Grand Cross”, “Amputation” and “Her” eyes are recorded in 2015, while “Black Profanation of Death” is a Death SS medley recorded in 2013, and “Lustful skin” is 2012 never released version. The three track from 2015 differ a lot soundwise and even stylistically. They are rawer, crisper, even slower – just in the above mentioned Celtic Frost pattern. The others two are more traditional black metal underground and amplified sound.
All that said, I would recommend the split to every UG lover, seeking for treasures in the coffins and the soil. But most of all the high praise and the applause for the label to bring us this split, so big credit for this. Now, can you all feel the stink? 7/10 Count Vlad
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