Band: Damned Spring Fragrantia
Release: Divergences (Album)
Release Date: Out Now
This ludicrously heavy debut full-length is just plain unrelenting. If you like an album with a bit of musical diversity this is NOT for you – from start to finish ‘Divergences’ is just plain sinister.
Damned Spring Fragrantia certainly know how to craft a wall of sound. For the most part, the guitar work on this record is chugging and straight out of The Acacia Strain’s personal handbook, with just a few melodic tails thrown in every now and then for colour. Andrea Tineli and Enrico Picari use their 8-stringed axes to generate some of the most punishing auditory barrages we’ve ever heard! When they’re not churning out ferocious, booming beatdowns, their oscillating riffs jump around discordantly, creating grooves that are frequently mesmerising.
Meanwhile, Nicolò Carrara’s vocals are essentially one dimensional…but that’s basically par for the course at this end of the musical spectrum and his guttural roars are certainly in keeping with the tone of the music. ‘Pariah’ is a notable exception to this rule, thanks to a great guest appearance from Heart In Hand vocalist Charlie Holmes – coupled with its more melodic guitar work, this is probably the easiest listen on the record.
The sheer quality of ‘Divergences‘ makes it difficult to pick out specific highlights, but for the sake of your ears we’ll give it a shot. Album-opener ‘Still Alive’ lets you know exactly where you stand with its concise serving of auditory chaos, and pretty much flows naturally into the equally brutal ‘A Common Tragedy’. Two particularly strong songs are the title-track (which boasts some of the album’s most unsettling discords) and closing number ‘Heritages’, which contains some really excellent bass slides.
‘Divergences’ sounds best turned up to maximum volume so that its super-low frequencies are the only thing your brain is able to process. These Italian noise-mongers occupy an extremely narrow musical niche, but for those of us who enjoy having our eardrums pummelled, it’s bloody excellent.
9/10
Reviewer: Solomon Radley
