Tenebro – Una Lama D’Argento (Giallo Metal)
This one came in the promos late, but boy am I happy it did. I was familiar with the work of Italy’s Tenebro and their characteristic approach to gore metal through the lens of Italian horror, but even that understanding of their work couldn’t prepare me for the crowning achievement that is Una Lama D’Argento. There’s no coming back from this. We’re in a new era. There are lots of bands you could say are “back with a vengeance,” but this is rather back with an insufferable dominance. Like a revenant looking to settle unfinished business, these guys are moving death metal into new territory, closing old books and starting the sequel. We need to properly honor the grisly, the dripping foulness, the low-budget gore and worms! We need the dominance of giallo metal! The old new is the new future!
I noticed almost immediately the open-air quality to the production of Una Lama D’Argento, which avoids the restricted sound of many death metal acts (that much overused “cavernous” thing). Here the open space permits Tenebro’s ooze to flow freely, sticking to the ears, the face, and the body. The thick bass applied to the guitars erupts out of the tombs, because the eerie cinematic tension these guys have been known for requires space to extend. They tend to lean heavily on not just their roots musically, but their cinematic roots, and by that we, of course, mean Italian horror from the Golden Age. Fulci, Bava, all those well-known names, but also some lesser-known freaks like Bianchi are mixed into the sound thematically. This is a true celebration of cinematic filth that ushered in the dominance of underground home media in the 1980s. By mixing in synth they’re able to create a sound that musically fits with the period, slithering and digging hooks so deep into the flesh that by the time the blood dries the metal has rusted away. And those vocals. Dr. Freudstein finally has found his voice. It’s savage and artful, with a precision that glimmers like a blood-soaked blade in the dark.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Tenebro – Una Lama D’Argento
Time to Kill Records
Cover Art: Julian F. Mora (Julián Felipe Mora Ibáñez)
5 / 5
