Hesperia – Picenum ~ True Marchigian Black Metal Renaissance ~ (Cantasoria Supreme)
The legendary fabulist of old has returned! I first heard word of Picenum ~ True Marchigian Black Metal Renaissance ~ (Christ) some months ago, having become a minor acquaintance of the man behind Italy’s Hesperia. I heaped praises on him before for his grandiose manner of storytelling through sound, but though I considered his last album to be his greatest (and damn it not writing another long title so look it up yourself), I think that crown has to be now removed and presented to Picenum ~ True Marchigian Black Metal Renaissance ~ because, fuck, this guy knows how to live the old life and is a true, modern cantasoria. His is kind of his own domain, and emperor of all that is Italian metal.
Greatness has been achieved when words will never suffice to explain it. I don’t think there’s any proper way, in any tongue, to fully explain Hesperia’s music. Feel free to peruse his earlier work, including his last full-length, but it might be best if you just went into this tabula rasa, unless you were already aware of his power. Picenum ~ True Marchigian Black Metal Renaissance ~ is impossible to capture in a small amount of space, and even had I more it would be insufficient. Hesperia is a masterful storyteller weaving complex references to Italian folklore with classic black metal in ways that should, by all accounts, result in a prosaic mess. But the amount of knowledge put into this work reveals itself with even random selections through the lengthy tracks, though it’s important to note, as with his last, this is not what I like to refer to as “car music.” You need to be fully immersed in it, at least for one listen, to understand its depth. With amazing moments of synth, three-on-two techniques, atmospheric passages that set the scene, it’s yet another masterpiece by what is one of Italy’s most important metal bands, deeply intertwined with his own ethnic identity down to the smallest drop of blood.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Hesperia – Picenum ~ True Marchigian Black Metal Renaissance ~
Hammerheart Records
Cover Art: Band
5 / 5
