Malfeitor
Unio Mystica Maxima

And here we are in the presence of the new majestic creature called Malfeitor, led by the "hated or loved" Malfeitor Fabban. Having left aside his immense and well-known project Aborym, Fabban, in January 2005, decided to establish a new project, which diverges widely from the Black-Industrial sounds of the notorious Aborym, aiming instead to opt for a darker and more "rotten" sound... that is, good old style black metal, purely Nordic in origin. After two years of searching for members who met Fabban's expectations, the lineup was completed, and it didn’t take long before the band released their first demo. But here it is finally, September 2007, when the first album of the Roman band is released, which I will review here, namely: "Unio Mystica Maxima".

"Unio Mystica Maxima" can be defined as a return to the origins of the genre; indeed it fully recalls all the sounds of early '90s bands such as Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral etc., without forgetting to include some minimal innovation. The production is nothing short of superb; each instrument can be perceived perfectly without any state of confusion, which is very easy to find in the early releases of the '90s bands that marked the genre’s history, such as: Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum and the already mentioned Gorgoroth and Dark Funeral.

The album doesn't boast great musical skills, but it's noteworthy for the great ability of all the musicians to perfectly assemble all the instruments, thus creating an immense insurmountable sound wall.

In this album, Fabban has managed to imprint, with an almost alchemical touch, his entire dark and occult soul; indeed, in an in-depth listening to Unio, one can perceive these damned blasphemous and occult sounds, capable of imprinting themselves in the listener's mind and tormenting it for hours and hours.

It seems silly to present a "track by track" as all the songs in this work are perfectly linked with each other; however, the highlights of the album can be listed, which in my opinion are: the opening track "Rex Bestia Fera" endowed with great vocal lines and intriguing riffs like never before; the subsequent "In This Place Forever", capable of bringing to mind Gorgoroth-style sounds of the good old days; and finally the splendid "Jesus Christi To The Lion", always exhilarating in its advance and with its final part sung in a simply fantastic baritone.

Excellent performance then by Malfeitor, who with this album make it clear that old school black metal is not yet dead, but rather, it is more alive than ever. Of course, one must admit that a bit more originality could have been present, but the fact remains that Unio is still a good album filled with excellent, proud black metal, without compromise!

My final rating is: 7