Label: Self released
Band: Fiave
Origin: Italy

Fiave has spun a remarkable story on this atmospheric black metal album, which deals with the plague in the 1630’s, which wiped out large parts of the Italian countryside. This album deals with that concept, as the Italian town Irone is completely wiped away except for one man.

Standing on a rock (as the title says) he as a guardian of the dead proclaims his last wishes and finally finishes his own life. It’s a grim enough story and it is tangible in the art work. A huddled group of faceless people on a snowy hill side. There’s a sense of despair, with one figure standing apart in a different robe.

There’s definitely something local to this record, something closely related to its locale. A gentle guitar plays on the intro song of tree minutes, while the sound of scuffling feed through the thick packed snow sounds. Dark and cold seems to fill the room in the mean time as the setting takes hold. A bombastic sound reverberates from the speakers, when ‘E Il Custode Accoglieva Con Sè Cenere E Morti’ kicks in. While the song initially opens fiercely, the song tones down rather rapidly to a more midpaced, mournful tone. The sound is still very full and powerful, with odd chanting filling up little gaps in its aural assault.

The guitars are somewhat lower tuned, creating more room for the vocals to find a space for sincere, fierce expression.  After spoken parts the song melts into another short intermission. There’s a sense of fatalism to the music, it all leads to the unavoidable death of all. In that sense the record really follows its narrative delivery. At times the music can be really primitive sounding, like the drum intro on ‘Delle Parole Restava Il Silenzio’. The chanting actually reminds me a bit of Amenra. The Belgian band also tends to put that religious experience into the music. So do the Italians. Thanks to a great story and an overal appreciation of the way music can tell all that, this is a rather great album. It’s highly entertaining and perhaps a bit loose in its delivery, but well enough to enjoy the languid passages and drama that unfolds.