CARONTE – Church Of Shamanic Goetia

Caronte, led by the charismatic Dorian Bones, is now among the best Italian bands in their field, one of those acts that have received the most appreciation from abroad as well. The band from Emilia-Romagna is extremely comfortable in that ritualistic area of stoner/doom metal that is founded on tribal and magical elements.

In their music, exoticism and esotericism come together in order to possess the listener, flowing through slow and addictive vibrations ("Maa-Kheru's Rebirth"), hallucinated shamanic atmospheres ("Temple Of Eagles" and "Left Hand Voodoo") and overwhelming sandstorms ("Wakan Tanka Riders"). At times, the band goes on to extremize their style ("The Sulphur Shaman"), or goes back to their stoner roots ("Black Mandala"). None of the elements included in this release is in vain, nothing is out of place, the concordance between musical expression and content is perfect, while Dorian's personal interpretation — still instinctively connected to Danzig — is just the cherry on top of a state-of-the-art cake.

I haven't mentioned any of the names that you surely have noticed as their main influences, since this band has managed to find its own sound release by release, breaking free — although not completely — from their artistic ties and thus finding a strong identity, something invaluable in today's music.

I won't keep on rambling about this album, as it should be quite clear by now that "Church Of Shamanic Goetia" is a great record and you should definitely get it if you want to do something good for yourselves.