(Andy Synn crosses the devil’s bridge once more)
It was almost exactly two years ago that Italian diabolists Ponte Del Diavolo released their debut album, Fire Blades From the Tomb, and although I didn’t catch up to it immediately I did manage to pen a review as part of that month’s “Things You May Have Missed“.
This time around, however, I’m (just) ahead of the game, as their new album, De Venom Natura, is set to come out this Friday, meaning I get the chance to help set your expectations ever so slightly in advance.
So, without further ado… let’s see where this bridge takes us, shall we?
If you’re not familiar with the band before now, and don’t have the time or the wherewithal to go check out their debut album (or the preceding three EPs where they first cut their teeth), then you’ll probably want to know what to expect before diving in to De Venom Natura, which is an eccentric, esoteric blending of Black Metal, Doom, and Post-Punk influences that sits somewhere between Ainsoph (whose spellbinding second album earned itself a place on my “Critical Top Ten” of 2025), The Devil’s Blood, and Sigh at their most acessible.
Opener (and early highlight) “Every Tongue Has Its Thorns” is a prime example of their moody musical melange, its initial burst of surging drums and insidiously infectious tremolo melodies eventually giving way to a series of prominent, pulsing rhyhms and dramatic, diva-like vocals (courtesy of singer Erba del Diavolo, who also possesses a strikingly spiteful snarl which she deploys at key moments), all driven by a hefty, groove-heavy low-end supplied by the band’s two(!) bass players, ebbing and flowing back and forth between blistering and brooding, before culminating in a devilishly doomy finale that sets a very high bar for the rest of the album.
And while this formula… though perhaps “formula” gives the wrong impression, maybe “method” would be a better word to use… definitely serves the band well across the rest of the record (“Lunga vita alla necrosi“, all riveting tremolo riffs, rumbling bass lines, and mesmerising vocal melodies, is one of the catchiest tracks of the year so far) several of the album’s most striking moments (such as the warbling trombone that weaves in and out of “Spirit, Blood, Poison, Ferment!“) come from the group’s decision to think outside of their established box.
Not every creative decision lands exactly as intended, of course (the first half of “Silence Walk With Me“, for example, which features guest vocals from Gionata Potenti, ends up feeling like something from an entirely different band), but those which do – with special mention reserved for the hazy hypnosis of “Delta-9 (161)” (whose central theme should be obvious to anyone with a knowledge of chemistry, or the ability to use Google), which expands the atmospheric and immersive side of the group’s sound into something really special – suggest that Ponte Del Diavolo still haven’t reached the end of their artistic journey.