HomSelvareg
Terremoto - Promo MMVII

For a long time, talking about an Italian Black Metal scene made no sense, and for many years all fans of the genre were forced to look beyond the Alps to enjoy the releases of a cohesive and valid underground, both musically and ideologically. The only and very few visible movements in our peninsula manifested at the end of those '90s that marked the glory of the Black Flame, but there were those who thought it wasn't worth giving too much weight to the warnings given by names like Spite Extreme Wing, Forgotten Tomb, or Aborym, preferring to shut themselves in a foreign admiration that seemed, at least for that moment, justified by the almost total sterility of the Italian ground.

That era is definitively closed, and releases like this one seal what was just said in an irrevocable way. The Italian underground proves to be present, active, and surprisingly valid. The releases of Hiems, Frangar, Kvlt, Infernal Angels, Frostmoon Eclipse, Draugr, Sturmkaiser, Nefarium, The True Endless, Visthia, and Malfeitor (just to name a few) are proof of this. And as if that weren't enough, directly from those Alps that our eyes once had to overlook, the kommando HomSelvareg, already the author of an excellent full-length, comes to support ours, with a short promo that is both a threat and a promise.

A brief intro and then the paced cadence of "Inizio Della Fine" opens the massacre. It's immediately noticeable how the mixing is more accurate than the previous album: the killer screaming of Plague is much clearer, revealing itself in all its nuances. The drum work, handled by Hell, is also excellent, clear, precise, powerful, and fast. But the real strength of this group is the riffing, entrusted to the guitars of Selvan and Bazzy. Their interplay, with a complexity unusual for the genre, manages to be epic, expressive, aggressive, and chaotic, without ever neglecting the evocative nature that is the foundation of HomSelvareg's musical proposal. What has just been said is already clear in this first track, which ends superbly, but becomes even more evident in the intense "Senza Via D'Uscita", where the formation, also thanks to Hell's excellent performance, initially showcases their muscles - and there are many, believe me - only to then embark on an acoustic break of great expressiveness. The alternation of fury and nostalgic sensations that makes this local band great also permeates the last and magnificent - the best - "Terremoto", introduced by a brief prelude. Right from the start, the guitars blend an element of great evocative power with a devastating double bass and blast beat foundation. Plague's voice is the perfect culmination that synthesizes the nostalgic epicness of the first with the brutality of the second. The solutions follow one another in a growing, truly magnificent manner, culminating here too in an acoustic phrasing of rare beauty.

A particular mention is deserved by the themes addressed by the band. HomSelvareg draws on the mountain folklore of their area of origin, celebrating its myths and legends. Also very present is the concept of Nature, a living entity in the band's imagination, which manifests powerfully and majestically. The term "HomSelvareg" indeed designates a mythical creature, only partly human, a predator child of Nature with which it lives in total harmony and from which it draws strength, which according to a legend would inhabit the Alpine woods.
There is also a certain anti-human connotation, akin to that of other Italian groups (specifically from the capital), stemming from the anger against today's society which doesn't care for the environment it lives in and has stopped perceiving itself as an integral part of Nature.

If this is just a taste of what their next full-length holds for us, I would say we are indeed authorized to harbor great hopes. Not only for this band but for the entire Italian underground, which is gradually configuring itself as one of the scenes destined to gain more and more importance in Europe.

Lastly, I note that the band will open one of the two Italian dates of Shining, on September 15, at Transylvania Live in Milan. Guests will also include Frangar, Malfeitor, and Black Flame, all three Italian bands.

"The human limit surpassed..."