At the doors of the Traffic Live Club in Via Prenestina you can immediately feel an air of feverish excitement, mixed pleasantly with the sirocco that rages over the capital. The concert by Turin's Ponte del Diavolo is highly anticipated, as they land in Rome to show off one of the most successful mixes of darkwave, doom and black-metal in the sonic panorama of the Bel Paese. Fromunderground Piedmontese on the stages of the major European festivals, the path of the band led with dark sensuality by singer Elena Camusso has been dazzling, certainly unique in its stylistic proposal.
While Traffic slowly fills up, Sonum from Vicenza open the evening with their fairly classic death metal, but at the same time capable of combining extreme dissonances and progressive atmospheres. Around 10pm it is then the turn of the Romans Aganoor, who propose a powerful set starting from riff steel of “Bury My Soul”, from their latest album “Doomerism”. Anth Maelstrom's excellent guitar leads the group in one setlist that doesn't want to take any prisoners, from the doom of “Morbid Skin” to a ferocious “Emerald Lake” in which the references to the influences of groups like Type O' Negative are pleasant.
It's the right way to introduce the set of Ponte del Diavolo, who go on stage several minutes early to try out all the instruments live in a soundcheck which seems infinite. Someone launches invectives against the sacred, while Elena Camusso tries out some vocalizations on the microphone. The start is brutal, with the doom-black of “Spirit, Blood, Poison, Ferment!” which is so powerful that it almost covers the voice. From the eerie and cold atmospheres of “Every Tongue Has Its Thorns” to the black-punk sung in Italian of “Lunga vita alla necrosi”, the band's set immediately gets to the heart of things, thanks to the use of two bass players. It ranges from the melodic doom of “Red As The Sex Of She Who Lives In Death” to the freshness of the synth-darkwave of “Il poison della natura”. The audience goes wild on the very successful cover of “In The Flat Field” (Bauhaus), before the fury blackie “Demon” and of killer-groove dark in the style of Siouxsie and the Banshees from “Covenant”.
The group greets the audience after about an hour of concert, immediately giving an encore with the aggressive punkish speed of “A Kiss at Midnight”. Everyone out enjoying the summer breeze and one last beer, well deserved after a mesmeric set.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
