Band: ANNATA NERA
Country: Italy
Title: Per Aspera ad Mortis
Label: Vacula Productions
Year: 2019
Style: Black Metal

Review:
Annata Nera means "black year" in Italian, and this is probably what 2020 could be called for the World and for Italy particularly, but let's talk about this band and its debut full-length album here. Per Aspera ad Mortis is a 6 tracks effort clocking less than half an hour, in my opinion a good choice of timing since this is, as mentioned before, a debut release. The Rieti based trio plays a fast paced, razor-sharp traditional Black Metal without any striking influences to distance them from the chosen path. Mostly they use repetitive structures but there are also plenty of elements thrown in here and there that prevent the listener going into boredom, and from this point of view the band has managed to come up with a serious offering for purists of the genre, as well as coming up with a hint of experimentalism here and there even though that's maybe a too strong word for what we get here. What I don't like on this album is its production, too chaotic and thin for my taste, most probably not the right production for this demonic, brutal music, it reminds me of some '90's releases where you could barely hear the guitar riffs, or they were insufficiently brought upfront to enhance the atmosphere. Anyway, apart from the production I have enjoyed this band's first album, a 100% straight-forward traditional Black Metal with quite a few ideas of their own. 
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10

Contact:
annatanerareate.bandcamp.com
vaculaproductions.bandcamp.com