Black Hole
Land Of Mystery

A cover that could, to use a euphemism, be described as homemade introduces us with its bare simplicity to one of the most complex and experimental works of the Italian Metal scene of the '80s, a piece borne from the insane mind of Robert Measles (in the secular world known as Roberto Morbioli), singer, bassist, keyboardist, leader, and founder of the Verona band Black Hole, one of the most original and at the same time least known.

After the release of the two demo tapes "Troubled Night" and "Beyond The Gravestone," and after several lineup changes, with Nicholas Murray recruited on guitar and Luther Gordon on drums, in 1985 Morbioli was able to bring to press this authentic jewel of Rock made in Italy.

It is not at all easy to talk about their music and the dark sensations that emanate from listening to the seven tracks of the album, and on the other hand, I believe that tackling an analysis with a track-by-track approach would not do justice to the depth and complexity of this work, especially considering that the atmosphere "Land Of Mystery" manages to create is fairly uniform across all the tracks. The genre proposed is a very experimental and at times psychedelic Doom, with numerous references to the style of bands like Black Sabbath and Black Widow; but on the national front, I cannot be silent about the influences that a work like the spectral "Ys" by Balletto di Bronzo may have had, or the more morbid output of the Pesaro band Death SS (songs like "Zombie", "Chains Of Death", "Black And Violet", "Schizofrenic", "The Bones And The Grave"), or even the contemporary experiments of Paul Chain, all seasoned with an abundant use of eerie keyboards and funereal organs, which together with Morbioli's sinister and reverberated voice infuse in the listener a vague sensation of hearing sounds not from this world, but coming directly from a foggy and inscrutable Underworld. The grave choral vocals present in tracks like "All My Evil" make us witnesses of dark rites related to the cult of Death, the true protagonist and mistress of this "Land of Mystery"; the long and psychedelic, sulphurous guitar solos of the title track, of "Bells Of Death", "Blind Men And Occult Forces" or "Obscurity In The Etheral House", accompanied by a cadenced drum and a sickly keyboard, capture the mind and hurl it into dark, lightless universes, where our inevitable fate is reminded and underscored by sudden, powerful yet brief instrumental gallops where the more Metal side of our protagonists emerges.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a grand masterpiece of the entire Rock scene, not only Metal, of Italy. I understand that you may be doubtful about the five I decided to assign to this work, of which many of you have probably never even heard of the authors, but I can assure you that the rating is not given in a fit of passion, as can happen in these cases, when rediscovering musical relics of this type, but after careful listening and an evaluation that I hope is correct. If you have the chance, give a listen to the dark, sick, even deadly notes, in their exasperated and funereal melancholy, that are present in these semi-forgotten tracks, and let yourself be carried away with passive abandon into the Land of Mystery that the title promises. Once the journey is completed, perhaps you will agree with me.

Tracklist of "Land Of Mystery":

- DEMONIAC CITY

- LAND OF MYSTERY

- ALL MY EVIL

- BELLS OF DEATH

- BLIND MEN AND OCCULT FORCES

- SPECTRAL WORLD

- OBSCURITY IN THE ETHERAL HOUSE