So many bands have named themselves after some thing or another from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. By now it would be easy to dismiss most of them as a bunch of unoriginal bums.

Whattamistakadamake in the case of Italy’s Ephel Duath. Named after the mountains surrounding Mordor, they’ve been dealing weird sorts of Progressive “Post-Black” and Avant-garde Metal since 1998. The group started out as a two-man game and is the brainchild of guitarist Davide Tiso and has released a small stack of full-lengths since. They must’ve done something right, because through time they managed to grab the attention of bassist Steve DiGiorgio, whom we should all know from such great Metallic names as Death, Testament, Iced Earth and Autopsy, who can now be heard on the band’s latest effort, a three song EP called On Death and Cosmos.

Also on board are German-born drummer Marco Minnemann and female vocalist Karyn Crisis, also the wife of Davide Tiso and seen with him on the band pic below. Recently the group moved to Polish label Agonia Records and On Death and Cosmos is the first release to be aired through this relationship.

Within the plethora of Death Metal bands that came out during the early nineties, it was quite easy to miss out on the gems that emerged from less obvious places (basically not Florida). Fortunately there are a few lucky bands who get revisited later by a record label, and the master tapes are dragged out from dusty corners, with new life breathed into them. Such is the case with Italian quartet Electrocution, who started out as a fast and brutal outfit borrowing from the Floridian scene, but later evolved into something more akin to Cynic or Atheist. However, before that transformation, they released Inside the Unreal, a 40-minute blast through technical-inspired Death Metal while also working in Bay Area Thrash influences, evoking the familiar mental image of long-haired sweaty guys headbanging in underground clubs in Florida.

Premature Burial gives a succinct snippet of the band’s style, as the album quickly flexes its low-end muscles in the form of the Canali brothers on bass and drums. Guadagnoli and Montaguti make up the guitar section, while the latter also delivers guttural growls throughout. There’s an undeniable groove to the songs, and a variety of tempos from Morbid Angel-fast to a doomier tone on Under the Wings Only Remains, where a very cool bass solo takes to the fore. Body’s Decay has a mid-paced stomp for a while, and one of the typical Slayer-like solos reminiscent of the ‘insane technical speed’ in the 80s. The drums, while not having many standout moments, leave little more to be desired, retaining the 90s feel through careful preservation and production.

I know, I know. I’m taking my sweet goddamn time. The thing is, it’s not that I don’t want to review, it’s that I haven’t got the friggin’ time for it. Hardly catch enough sleep as it is.

But the positive side of this is that not having to – or rather, not being able to – review something means I can listen to music in a rather ‘unforced’ way again. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing with the four-song EP called Evil is a Necessity by Italian Melodeath / Metalcore outfit Karnæ. I’ll have to admit straight away that it’s not majestic, or even brilliant. It’s not massively technical or mimicking the build-up of classical music. But what it definitely is, is enjoyable! Very much so.

I’m sure you’ve noticed our output is a little slower than before. For me personally the reason for that is work and craploads of other shit I need to take care of in physical life. But more importantly, there are currently some initiatives being unfolded that will drastically change the future of The Baboon. You’ll find out soon enough!

Anyfuck, Amassado! They’re a project of Italian and Brazilian musicians that has just released its debut effort, Coracao Enterrado. I have no idea what this means, but I’m positive it’s Portuguese. This puppy has been out for a while. In fact, it has been sitting in my list of stuff to review for a while as well, but for the above mentioned reasons I didn’t get a chance to look at it sooner. Will do a short but full-fledged review now though.

Today, which means exactly today, Italian Thrash-outfit Boarders have released their third album called R-Existence. The guys managed to impress the world with their sophomore The World Hates Me, and judging from the first notes of R-Existence, they continue to do so. With this 40 minute album, Boarders again serve us some face molding Melodic Thrash Metal.

Emerging from a Megadeth cover band, Boarders actually date back to 1988. Roughly 20 years later however, they decided to walk their own path, and started writing their own songs, with lyrics in the vain of US-Metalcore outfit As I Lay Dying; society with a Christianity-influenced outlook.

We’ve got three new guitar freaks in this fifth installment of the One Man Show series, a continuation of the series after some four months. As nearly always, we’re dealing with purely instrumental Metal again, focusing on beautiful and generous melodies. ‘Nuf said.

Anima Mundi is Italian for “the soul of the world”. Although I do question whether the world actually has a soul, I can tell you that this album is as interesting and diverse as Mother Earth herself.

I actually stumbled across this band by accident. I was looking at the Facebook page of another band and I found a link to this Italian band called Anima Mundi.
I was very impressed with their single the Vision, which was featured on the eponymous album which was released about two months ago.
So I contacted the band, and quickly got a reply from Salvatore Garasto, the man behind the band: he was happy to send me a promo pack.

Remember Ready, Set, Fall!? We put up a very brief post about them in early May and at least I was positively surprised by their cunning catchiness in the shape of Metalcorian Melodeath. It’s not that they’re approaching their game from an original angle of attack or anything; there are about a gazillion other bands that take pretty much the same approach. But they do seem to do it better than most.

That approach is chugging, spiced-up harsh verses and melodic, catchy clean sung choruses. You’re bound to know a bunch of other bands that do this. RSF’s Skyscrapers really got me hooked and grew on me every time I heard it. They haven’t much changed their recipe with Buried Alive, the single to their freshly released Buried EP, which HarveyD tipped us off about.

These guys must be one of Italy’s most talented Metal bands if you ask me. The Milanese group formed in 2002 and has delivered some highly original, progressive even, Melodeath to the world. In 2009 they released their debut Urban Being through Coroner Records.

A year later they followed up with The King is Fat ‘n’ Old, which is what you could call a masterpiece. We fed you two of their songs earlier: Jade’s Place and Neverending Mary. Both tickled our arousal bone.

Well, the band and its label is milking the album properly, because a third music video for the album was released on July 14^th. It’s titled Twice the Price and compared to the two earlier tracks that were singles, it’s a hell of a lot heavier and groovier. Where there were moments in Neverending Mary and Jade’s Place that were on the edge of Metal, this song definitely penetrates Metal area deeply. Was that sentence stimulating dirty thoughts?

Italy’s great for its red hot super cars, its slightly controversial (screwing underage chicks as a 75 year old tends to stir up some controversy) Prime Minister and its lovely food (I just had lasagna, all’ollandese, but still). It is not, I repeat, it is NOT famous for its Black Metal. That’s what we have Norway for, right. But hey, those are just stereotypes and being great at cooking pasta has nothing to do with playing Black Metal or not.

And hence we’ve got before us Nefertum, from the town of Potenza in the province of Basilicata (it’s in the South). We got steered in their direction by our buddy Patrik Carlsson, of Anachronaeon and Eyecult, and found a delicious and saucy piece of Black Metal. Rich with melody and catchiness, but not at all short of darkness and evilness.

We’ll spin you some stuff after the break.