Jacula
In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum

I'm about to talk to you about Antonio Bartoccetti's band, stage name Anthonius Rex: criticized by the critics of the time, unknown to the general public, humiliated by producers ("change jobs" he was told by the future producer of Area) he is currently considered one of the pioneers of Italian progressive rock, or rather of what would have been defined as dark-gothic. My passion for underground music, and in particular for musical "archetypes", leads me to talk to you about this particular and extraordinary album, which I recently discovered thanks to a very well-stocked specialty record store. A practically unobtainable album until 2001, reissued under the Black Widow label in a limited edition. Perhaps hard to find, but it's worth it. It's proof that artists rarely top the music charts.

An unprecedented sound for the time, made exclusively from an authentic church organ, the electric guitar of the band's leader, and dark and obsessive voices. An essential style that characterizes an album with excellent production: the percussion is practically nonexistent, except for accents, the guitar is included only at certain moments, while dominating are a monolithic voice and Charles Tiring's monumental organ. Greatly influenced by Toni Iommi's style from Black Sabbath, and morbidly attracted to occult and esoteric themes, Bartoccetti manages to invent a sick, decadent, and dark sound, absolutely ahead of anyone else. A doom with ambient shades, if you really want a label.

In an era of the progressive rock explosion, where the differences between various bands were blurring, Jacula of Anthonius Rex were something truly alternative. Truly extraordinary is the track "Triumphatus Sad", very violent yet extremely well thought-out, made with a hard-rock guitar base "mixed" and a predecessor of any Italian "horror music". Not to forget the gloomy and evocative "Initiatjo", which showcases the mystical female voice of Fiamma dello Spirito: or the title track, extremely long, which cannot fail to fascinate any fan of the genre. Clearly, it's not an album that "listens" easily, especially Rex's "spoken poetry" can bore those expecting something else from a rock album. But I believe that, despite the heaviness of some passages, it can rightly be called a masterpiece of dark, or dark-gothic if you will (...we're in 1969!). The prog parts can mainly be found in the extremely exaggerated keyboard parts, the skilful use of effects, and the use of the voice as a mere instrument. To truly realize what it's about, and the inherent beauty in the sound, you need to get the CD.

Any other words spent on the subject would be nebulous, useless, they'd only confuse the ideas. The only flaws (and I'll conclude here), the fact that "for fun" our artist later made techno ("musical drug", according to his words), something he has never disowned, and a sense of horror for the band's name, which derives from an horror-porn comic of the time: a truly "trash" choice, as we would say today. Probably the only way to clearly distinguish from the various great groups, back then in formation. But now please, no more "techno" records...