MV has been receiving a lot of new music from our friends over in Italy. Given Donnie’s love of all things Italian, Emrevoid, has given our writer has even more reason to ‘don’ his Tricolore.
Italians Emrevoid have risen from the scattered ashes of Thy Cold and are making a name for themselves with their personal take on old school death metal laced with Black Metal.
The first thing to note is the decision to present the vocals in their native tongue, which is brave step these days, particularly if you want to break out of your own country and expand Caesar-like into Europe and beyond. Successful bands with a similar commitment to their own language such as Rammstein are few and far between, certainly in the bigger musical markets. That said you get the impression that this is not what Emrevoid are in it for.
The opener “Patibolo”, the English translation meaning “Gallows”, is a violent foreboding of what is to come, not only for the other five tracks on offer but possibly civilization itself given the grim subject matter. The guttural vocals make the lack of lyrical understanding almost an irrelevance, certainly to the enjoyment of the album anyhow. The death metal staples such as furious death-march drumming and pounding bass are all present but infused with a chilling atmosphere that echoes some of the standard bearers within the Scandinavian Black Metal scene.
At this stage you may be wondering what the name Emrevoid means. In short it is a word reversal from “dio verme” that means “god is a worm”. Clearly the Catholic doctrine embedded in modern Italian culture is not for these five sceptical souls.
Vocalist Gaetano Rizzo is the chief songwriter and his words taken from an interview with the band for Bringerofdeathzine blog state “the central topic is an existential dualism, a debate between two antithetical archetypes. It’s the revitalizing conflict that every human lives every day in his own intimate dialog with his hidden ego. A man constantly oppressed by the awareness of his limits in the attempt to cross the divine hope”. Not much one can to add to that.
What is embedded in them, however, is a motivation and desire to push the boundaries within the confindes of their musical landscape. This is noticeable on the final track “Hic et Nunc” which demonstrates a complex structure that utilises a progressive movement similar to a brutal version of Mastodon. It’s a seriously accomplished piece of music by any standards and the tracks that preceed it are of equal quality, depth and fury.
Take “Obbedienzassenza” for example. It is completely different from every other track on the EP but still retains elements of what is developing into a forward-thinking signature sound for the band. The production values owe a debt to the early 1990’s Scandinavian releases and is all the better for it.
It’s not been an easy ride for the band who formed a decade ago but just like their local Calcio side A.C. Cesena, who recently gained promotion back to the Italian top flight, this is a band that is on the rise after a turbulent recent history. However, whilst the modest talents and finances of the seahorses (Cesena’s nickname) may prevent them from becoming a big time player in European football or winning the Scudetto there may be no such barriers for Emrevoid in their bid to conquer their homeland and become the present and the future of modern extreme metal.
Emrevoid are:
Drummer – Fabio Savini
Guitarist – Alessandro Rossi
Bass – Riccardo Zappi
Vocals – Gaetano Rizzo
Donnie’s Rating: 9.5/10
To check out the band for yourself, and you should seriously do so without hesitation then go to https://www.facebook.com/emrevoid and http://emrevoid.bandcamp.com/
