Pachiderma
Il Diavolo, La Peste, La Morte – Argonauta Records
Italy’s Pachiderma, purveyors of the finest sludge metal, are about to unleash a one-track album on an unsuspecting public. To call the sonic terrorists who comprise this band “dark” would be something of an understatement. Down-tuned, dirty, distorted and anchored by a bass heavy rumble Il Diavolo, La Peste, La Morte is split into three distinct suites but first there’s a sinister introduction to foreshadow the rest of the album. Psychedelic, and slightly psychotic, this record is a smorgasbord of unsettling samples (which take the place of vocals) set over a chest-thumping rhythm section and the result is a sound that stomps from speaker to speaker like an angry Golem. Black Sabbath are a definite influence, but Pachiderma are more bad-acid nightmare than hippy dream; menacing and monolithic they batter on the door of your cranium and they’re not going away until you open up. This could quite easily be the soundtrack to a Lucio Fulci film, Il Diavolo, La Peste, La Morte is not the kind of album you put on as background music; it demands your full attention and while it’s not always an easy listen it is infallibly rewarding.
Review by – Peter Dennis