"What is my life
Without any sense
What is my life
What is music
Without my presence?"
Over the next few weeks I became sidetracked with other albums,other discoveries but I knew I would soon have to confront and really give my undivided attention to this album. I hadn't listened to it in full yet as I was very preoccupied with other albums and singles.
Hailed by more than a few as an amazing epic heavy metal record I knew in the back of my mind it had to rule..somehow. Investigating Dark Quarterer leaves you a bit mystified. There are no overtly "metal" graphics on this album at all,a metal archives search for Dark Quarterer reveals a picture of the trio looking like a back up band for Esteban. They are Italian as well which is usually a red flag for me. I have struggled with Italian prog rock "masterpieces" in the past. Everything just sounds so theatrical and showtunes from the vocals to the bombastic or sometimes carnival-esque melodies. So I was going into this album with a type of pre-disappointed feeling. I believe that I listened to it in full for the first time on a rainy day in August...
"Red Hot Gloves" is the first,and probably most normal,song on the 1987 self titled album. The vocals tend to sound fine after a spin or two and I really like the higher almost ear piercing delivery of "RED HOOT GLUVES!" Yes Gianni Nepi has quite the accent..but I find accents pretty charming.
The second song "Colossus of Argil" starts out with a lengthy instrumental intro with a bit of a progressive flair. The drums then begin to play a slow rock beat and the listener is greeted by a particularly doomy riff. About half way through this song a victorious passage pops up kind of out of nowhere. It's the kind of gallant medieval sounding stuff that wouldn't sound out of place on a Brocas Helm album. Dark Quarterer seem to do this frequently throughout the album mixing bits of melancholic doomish riffage with epic or bombastic interludes. I almost hate using the word "epic" as it is used to describe such a wide array of things(many of them being awful)
Imagine perhaps you are on some kind of underground journey,passing by rows of skulls piled to the wall. With rapier in hand you descend further down into this dungeon,your fate interlocked with that of the unspeakable forces of evil that await you in the main corridor. THAT is the kind of "epic" feeling that entraps my mind when listening to this album. Not Braveheart,or umpteenth visions of generic looking Norse warriors ready to do battle with ogres. An esoteric and obscure vibe. Let's take the song "Entity" for example.
"All my pores are oozing
white cold blood
while my soul
vibrates for you
oh my leader,my possessor
my unknown entity"
I don't know about you but I find those to be rather creepy lyrics. Lyrics like that have been written a thousand times over but never in such a strange way. "Entity" is rather typical in it's songwriting/structure but that doesn't take away from the sinister force that I feel when listening to it. I seemed to skip over "Gates of Hell" and "Ambush," but that is no matter. "Ambush" is a kick ass instrumental tune and "Gates of Hell" is a pretty good dark and doom laden metal tune. I want to talk about the song "Dark Quarterer" now because it's probably the best on here. Featuring a delicate guitar melody with quivering vocal work, it sounds like some lost psychedelic track from the early 1970's. Of course this is a metal album and the song picks up with a really great drumbeat(featuring a cowbell)and a simple but awesome guitar passage.
The whole end of the song I can just imagine them putting their everything into this recording..which is always important to me. After a lot of in depth listening it's clear that these songs were written and executed with the utmost passion and dedication to the craft of heavy metal. Obviously this record had to grow on me a bit but any feelings of disappointment were usurped by the overall atmosphere,transmitted to me successfully after but a few full listens.
If you have the Eat Metal reissue like myself than you have the pleasure of experiencing the bonus track "Lady Scopolendra."
A lot of wonderful vocal melodies on this song seeing as the drummer is pitching in. This song has some really catchy parts much like "Red Hot Gloves" and "Colossus of Argil" and is top notch along with the rest of the LP. I didn't get too much into production here but if you are a real stickler for clean and professional sounding shit then you might find your listening experience a bit ruined. The production job is dirty and sometimes the louder vocal parts are distorted. I for one think the production is quite fitting in keeping with the fantasy world that I am teleported to upon playing the record. The final nail in the coffin is the album artwork. A close up profile? A head wearing a cross between a space helmet and some Roman legionnaire type of headgear? It looks like a wall mural or something and it's got this sepia/brownish green tone to it. So let's see who handled the artwork. The cover painting is attributed to Maribruna Toni. A google image search for that name doesn't reveal too much but we can guess it's maybe a friend of the band or some old and forgotten artist. The album cover is important because it intensifies the aura of this album and there nothing about it that gives away what Dark Quarterer are. It's not a typical heavy metal cover at all but dreary,ancient looking and leaving you with a slight feeling of uneasy dread. AWESOME record.
*Soft rock promo shot
-Matt
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