DARKHOLD – Centuries Of Purgatory

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• Bands:
  DARKHOLD
• Duration: 00:41:16
• Available from: 06/26/2026
• Label:

• Nadir Music

Second recording chapter for Darkhold. After the long-distance debut called “Tales From Hell”, released in March 2023, today the Lombard band presents us with the new “Centuries Of Purgatory”, an album that certifies the will of the Italian quintet to carry forward a proposal where vintage thrash, based in the Bay Area, mixes with a heavy classic, combining marked groove solutions with more airy and melodic dynamics, also weighing down the tones whenever the need.

Those who know a little about the background of Darkhold know that at the base of this new reality are the singer Claudio Facheris and the guitarist Eros Mozzi, both former Methedras and already protagonists of an interesting tribute to Testament (The Preachers), in fact the cornerstone of the new musical project. And if in “Tales From Hell” the references to the group led by Chuck Billy were quite evident, in the new work the work of the Facheris/Mozzi duo has changed strategy slightly, lightening the focus from time to time, trying to balance the two main components of their sound and interspersing episodes with a more direct impact with others of greater scope. The result is a record that in its hardest and fastest moments (“Roots Of Arrogance”, “Jangled Nerves” and Indolence Delight”) takes us directly to California, with Death Angel, Heathen and obviously Testament highlighting their distinctive mark compared to Darkhold. Songs, those mentioned, in which one of the band's trademarks stands out: the timbre of Facheris himself, very similar to that of the 'Indian chief' Billy, which fully drives the rhythmic pace raised by the duo formed by Giuseppe Celeste (bass) and Jacopo Casadio (drums).

However, the outcome of the remaining episodes is different: the search for a catchier, catchier arrangement, played on regular uptempos, without major rhythmic jolts, does not always find its best epilogue, as if the band were afraid to dare; and it's a real shame because all the means available are there. From the experience to the pure technical quality of the performers (the work on the six strings of Mozzi and his partner Giovanni Casagrande is noteworthy), the weapons brought into play by Darkhold find expression in pieces such as “The Hunger Cave”, “Lost in Lust” and the final “Fade Haze Away”. However, in some situations (see the opener “Ghost Shadows”) the piece seems to curl up on itself, almost prevented from finding its own outlet, so much so that even the vocal performance of the former long-maned Facheris shows some difficulties when it comes to reaching the highest keys. A flaw, if we want to call it that, which also manifests itself here and there in other passages.

“Centuries Of Purgatory”, released by Nadir Music and characterized by a thick cover – created by the artist Sheila Franco, in which the agony of the souls (ourselves?) trapped in the daily purgatory, overwhelmed by the neurotic and lightning-fast sense of a fictitious happiness, in the desperate search for true personal fulfillment clearly shines through – is therefore proposed as an intermediate stage of the Lombard band, with a tracklist that presents various successful songs together with some more cumbersome. Now the hope is that the five can find the famous squaring of the circle in their next works.