Dark End
Assassine

...a distant suspended melody, arcane rhymes, and a labyrinth of sensations that only the devoted silence of contemplation can narrate. A color, a shiver, a legacy of the senses... and suddenly the very concept of "description" shrivels and slowly crumbles. Because in the face of "Assassine", the second full-length work from our fellow Italians Dark End, one realizes how words may sometimes be inadequate to describe the immense spectrum of colors inherent in emotion, risking diminishing the very essence of Music, pure and simple.
Where to begin, then, in attempting to "transmit through discourse" the essence of this album? With humility and the breadth of mind, which are in my opinion essential to internalize the beauty intrinsic in every Work of Art, enjoying every nuanced detail.

First, let's abandon the classifications, the labels, the "comparisons with the new": this is because the grave symphonies of Dark End take shape and flow from the very primordial source tapped into by Celtic Frost (first and foremost), Emperor, Limbonic Art, and Arcturus, making the imposing use of keyboards and orchestrations a tool to further enhance their sound spectrum, light-years away from that concept of "commerciality" which is continuously (and often mistakenly) invoked when discussing a certain type of musical proposition.

Secondly, let's allow the fibers of Art the free possibility of weaving their own patterns. Despite the surgical ferocity of the execution and the sublime beauty of many melodies, "Assassine" is a difficult album, which uses the generally long tracks to stage its theater and therefore does not admit haste, nor omniscience that leads to judging "everything all at once".

A grim and rapid ambient intro throws us into the mad atmospheres of this concept album (as the title of the work suggests, dedicated to some historical female figures devoted to murder - Leonarda Cianciulli, Jeanne Weber, Elga Gurroci, among others), delivering us mercilessly into the arms of a Mater Terribils who allows no respite with its tight tempos, its classic metal digressions characterized by a marvelously maiden-like bass and a moving epilogue where a few sad notes are played obsessively with an almost doom-like progression, supported by a devastating rhythm section. I consider this brief "musical anatomy" emblematic in describing one of the main characteristics of the band, which is the ability to unite countless different nuances, making them coexist in a functional and fresh way for the benefit of the entire musical proposition, always very evocative and heartfelt: thus transitioning from solos with an almost progressive aftertaste to imposing baroque orchestral sections, from the melancholic and furious rage of black metal to the esoteric tragedy of a certain type of '80s occult metal (in this regard, the main riff of A Bizarre Alchemical Practice splendidly smells of sulfur, Angel Witch and Mercyful Fate), maintaining throughout the entire work (over 60 minutes) an enviable narrative tension and an atmosphere continuously oscillating between the dramatic and the solemn.

Before returning to that conceptual silence I hinted at the beginning, allowing the Music itself to continue narrating these sensations to which I have merely introduced you, it is impossible for me not to mention the incredible Two Faced Beast, characterized by a chanting at times psalm-like and ossianic, literally giving chills (the vocalist Animae, delivers an impeccable and strongly varied theatrical performance in every single appearance, rightly embodying the roles of both victim and executioner using different languages: English, Italian, Latin, French) and the concluding suite Perinde Ac Cadaver, cradle of countless changes in tempo and mood, almost sacred in its classy approach to a certain type of religious black metal.

In the shadow of my bedside here reappears a distant suspended melody, arcane rhymes, and a labyrinth of sensations that only the devoted silence of contemplation can narrate. Yet, if my humble words have managed to convey to you even a small portion of the vibrations that all this is capable of generating, or even just instill the germ of curiosity within you, then that silence will not have been banished in vain.