Lento
Earthen

After laying waste together with Ufomammut in "Supernaturals-record one," here comes the debut of the Romans Lento for the label "Supernatural Cat," already home to other sonic devastators like the terrorists Morkobot. Three guitars, a bass, and drums, on hypnotic and dreamy instrumentals, capable of slapping you violently with full, sticky distortions.

Imagine a scene like this, where members of the historic Earth accidentally meet up in a park with the Neurosis and decide to do something together, and mix them without too many questions with the dreamy rhythms of Mogwai and certain Goodspeed You/Black Emperor. Someone I know gave a scornful definition on the first listen: "ambient music for catacombs". It might be the borderline tunings, but this album makes you tremble and, above all, gets lodged inside you.

The first track is "Hadrons", crossed by ruthless riffs, where low frequencies linger around obligatory passages, while the drummer builds wide, breathing structures around the four chords. If while listening to it, you start oscillating your head like you've never done before, rest assured it's a more than expected side effect. The second track "Need" reveals the melodic soul of the quintet while remaining within solid sonic patterns. Bonus points to the drummer who roams with imagination in this piece, carrying forward the sound fortress while the three guitarists manage the roles excellently, without overstepping each other, demonstrating a deep understanding of their instruments. In a triumph of distortions, "Currents" marks the album's climax, decisive and powerful strumming amidst synthetic voices drowned in choruses, five minutes of pure inspiration.

But perhaps the most curious thing about these devastators is the ambivalence that distinguishes them. Among tracks of great emotional and sonic impact like "Currents" or "Earth", emerges "Emersion of the island" made of reverbs and delay, soft electric disturbances, where the drums inevitably disappear, leaving room for lysergic tones, ethereal atmospheres distant from the sludge taste. Shades of dark red on black, somewhat establishing points of no return around the seven tracks of the album that will hardly keep your feet on the ground.

In short, Lento demonstrates that they have the credentials to carry forward a project that does not necessarily have to remain niche. If you can, go see them live; there, they give their heart.