Confessor
Condemned

Several times I have expressed my gratitude to the English record label "Earache"; thanks to its multiple releases, I have acquired an endless series of Death Metal and Grindcore albums. In 2015, the label finally decided to reissue the debut of Confessor: I immediately took advantage of the event, managing to fill a gap that had been haunting me since the moment of its release, which took place way back in 1991.

They formed in Raleigh, North Carolina (the same hometown as Corrosion Of Conformity) in 1986, and after a series of promising demos, they made their debut over long distances. Something unheard of before, even in extreme circles: a bewildering, twisted, and atypical Death-Doom. There are two fundamental characteristics of their complicated sound: first and foremost, the shocking voice of Scott Jeffreys. A crystalline prism of extremely high notes, beyond any logic; I take Chris Cornell in the early Soundgarden albums as a reference. But Scott goes even further: an alienating, insanely schizophrenic wail.

We come to the second distinctive feature of Confessor; the incomparable drumming of Steve Shelton. Broken rhythms, incessant changes of pace, always on slow and somehow "fractured" and layered bases. In total and dynamic control. Amazing. All this is supported by the work of the two guitars, very close to the Carcass of "Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious," also released in 1991.

About forty minutes for nine individual tracks; like Meshuggah, before Meshuggah, and even better than Meshuggah. With an evident Doom heritage that pushes them towards the likes of the divine Candlemass and Trouble. The auditory "trip" is inaugurated by "Alone" and concludes with the funeral "Suffer" (a program of intentions already from the title!). An auditory journey that is not easy, insidious, even hostile. They did not have much luck in terms of sales; their offering was truly too advanced for the nineties.

The fate of the great is, at times, to be misunderstood.

Written on this gloomy afternoon, just after receiving the news of the career conclusion of another extreme band from those years: Bolt Thrower...WAR MASTER...

Ad Maiora.