THE BLACK - Infernus Paradisus Et Purgatorium

THE BLACK - Infernus Paradisus Et Purgatorium

One of the more obscure bands ever to come from mama – Italia amongst others is The Black. The Black is the brainchild of the quitarist / vocalist Mario Di Donato (Unreal Terror, Requiem). The band has been around from 1989 until today, but with a few releases considering their years of its existence.
\r\nI have chosen to put in the monument section the first full length album by  The Black, “Infernus, Paradisus, Purgatorium” because of the fact that this is a characteristic album of their music which combines many the most of the elements of the band. In this album someone can hear slow , down tempo riffing with vocals in latin , the vocals in specific parts sounds more like whispers in the dark rather than  “proper vocals”. More up tempo parts also exist , and this is one fact that made The Black to be considered as one proto – black metal band.
\r\nThe main influence of The black is of course Paul chain Violate Theater and other “obscure” bands of that time and of course of earlier times. The unique sound is something that really separate The Black from the other groups of this genre. And especially on “Infernus, Paradisus, Purgatorium” this sound is so obvious, having also some church organ on the background and very boosted production that sometimes during the album the bass guitar played by Belfino De Leonardis is more “up” even from Mario’s guitars. At this point I have to quote the the production made by Belfino De Leonardis, that by this time was the producer of many underground Italian bands, also to mention that the whole concept and lay out made by Mario “The Black” Di Donato..
\r\nThe “Infernus, Paradisus, Purgatorium” album has been released via the lengedary Italian label Minaotauro (the label of Mario Lenzi) in 1990 and along with the band’s first release , the EP “Reliquarium”  can be considered as their peak moments in their discography.
\r\nThe Fact above all is that the Black and this release is a “difficult” release in many ways. It’s a difficult album to hear because even you love it or feed it in the trash can, as well as, is pretty difficult to find it, because minotauro never re released their albums (except the Paul Chain ones) and I never met a Cd version of the album. But I strongly believe that all the friends of the “occult Doom Metal” will love this one.
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\r\nLampros Tennes
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