Rating: 9.0

Country: Italy

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: Black Widow Records

Track list:
1. Intro
2. A Forest Mass
3. Black Arcadia
4. Revenants Of War
5. In Mithra’s Den
6. Bodysnatchers
7. Stramonium Experience
8. The Shameless
9. Requiem For The Human Beast

Zess - Et In Arcadia Ego

Lord Ruthven- Right Guitar
Dr. Polidori- Left Guitar
Dr. Freudstein- Bass
F. Rosenkranz- Drums/Synth
Mercy La Morgue- Lead/backing vocals, Synth

There are few things in life I enjoy more than a heady, musty, mildewy offering of vintage horror-doom. Actually, I recant that statement, there is NOTHING in life I enjoy more than a frothy goblet of black slurry sludge- 'Black Sabbath', 'King Of The Dead', 'Land Of Mystery', 'Satanic Rites', 'Angel Witch', 'Child Of Darkness', 'Day Of Reckoning', 'Walking Dead', these are albums that will accompany me when I take residence six feet beneath the earth. Black Widow has always been very magnanimous to the Giallo-worshipping, weird fiction-revering magi of the doom underworld, and their exhumation of these 1987/88 rehearsal recordings affirm their place as forerunners of the ethereal and esoteric.

I had heard the name Zess on multiple occasions when discussing the merits of Death SS, Wyxmer, White Night, Run After To and Black Hole with like-minded brethren, and while I had formulated rather wild fantasies about their sound prior to receiving this CD, I can resolutely say that it has very much defied, yet exceeded any expectations. Musically, this quaffs deeply from the well of Angel Witch and Black Sabbath, yet exudes a staunchly Italian identity (something I can attribute to the esoteric atmosphere, abyssal production values, fiercely assertive musicianship and THAT distinct Italian snarl that everyone from Steve Sylvester to the dudes from Dark Quarterer and Adramelch employs to some degree). In many respects, this album is very much a by-product of its epoch, drawing together frayed segments of Witchfynde, Quartz, Requiem and especially Angel Witch (whose influence appears to have loomed large upon the Italian horror scene) and siphoning said influences through a characteristic Italian approach, imbuing their brand of dread with a strident ritualistic feel that reminds one somewhat of early Pagan Altar.

Yet, the proceedings here are not “weightless” in the sense that forebears Black Hole or Run After To were, the band mining a far more metallic strain that puts them in good stead with Italian horror forefathers Death SS, who flaunted a similar proclivity for dynamic, doom-by-way-of-speed-metal structures. “Bodysnatchers” comes closest to vintage Death SS in this respect, a frenzied, white-knuckled, proto-speed romp bursting with rhythmic, carnivorous, almost Holocaust thug-riffs, while album highlight “Stramonium Experience” (strangely enough sequenced just after “Bodysnatchers”) oozes with lugubrious, slothful sprawl, impenetrable walls of guitar erecting themselves atop HEAVY-handed (this guy drums like a fucking Titan!) percussion as Mercy La Morgue adds several layers of dementia and delirium to the track with his manic ululations. While not all the fare is quite as sublime as these two centerpieces, the forceful vitriol of the band adds immeasurable spirit to some of the more predictable material, scintillating solos and the EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT drumming (a Keith Moon-esque performance of gargantuan proportions, this guy NEVER stops drumming, and the kicks/toms have the propulsive force of an atom bomb, so much so that one has difficulty distinguishing the bass drum from an actual detonation sample on the second track) truly distinguish the band as something special. As with all my favorite Italian albums, this one is so rough-at-the-edges, and is so far from being immaculate in so many respects, but yet there is an inexplicable, intangible je ne sais quoi to all this, an ineffably magical aura that affirms it as a masterwork of elite echelon doom.

Italian doom is a weird and wonderful fancy, and one that I imagine will take considerable familiarizing for those of you who have yet to be ordained to the order of horror-doom maniacs (read: hopelessly obsessive doom geeks). I think this is far more accessible than most, though, and would serve as an ideal entry point for anybody seeking an education in the dark delights that this medium has to offer.

October 28th, 2006