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Doomraiser Premiere “Chimera” Video; The Dark Side of Old Europa out Jan. 24

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Not to give too much away, but the final resolve of The Dark Side of Old Europa — the fifth full-length from Roman five-piece Doomraiser out Jan. 24 on Time to Kill Records — comes amid thudding drums and plodding riffs as “Loathsome Explorer Interpolation” ends on vocalist Nicola Rossi‘s repeated line, “We are all doomed.” That would very much seem to be the underlying — and often not-at-all-underlying — message of The Dark Side of Old Europa‘s plunge through Europe’s dark, violent and plague-addled history, which Doomraiser lead while also taking on the history of doom metal itself, from (of course) Black Sabbath on the intro “Passage” to shades of Celtic Frost that show themselves in the title-track and the later “Häxan” and the closer, theremin-laced dark psych on “Tauroctony (The Secret Cult of Mithras),” elements of Cathedral on “Chimera” and elsewhere, Trouble throughout, and Scott Reagers-era Saint Vitus most especially on the nine-and-a-half-minute highlight “Terminal Dusk” and also the aforementioned finale. Following the intro, “Chimera” opens the The Dark Side of Old Europa like a gateway to the abyss, with a swinging rhythm from bassist Andrea Caminiti and drummer Daniele Amatori, and riffs from Marco Montagna and Giuseppe Nantini to lead the way down into the void.

They talk about themselves as playing “heavy drunken doom” in the bio info, and, okay, fair enough, but if they’ve been downing beers or whatever, they seem to be able to hold their liquor. The songs are coherent in their structure, and offer nuance in drum changes that end up driving doomraiser the dark side of old europarighteousness like the ending lead of “Chimera” or the finish of “Tauroctony (The Secret Cult of Mithras)” to an all the more effective level even as the crunch in “The Dark Side of Old Europa” or the synth-laced instrumental build of the penultimate “Continuum Pt. 1 (Suspended in Darkness)” set a pretty broad range of influence within the sphere of doom. And Doomraiser, rest assured, are doom. They’re practically dooom, they’re so doom. And they know it.

The Dark Side of Old Europa is their first full-length in some five years since 2015’s Reverse (Passagio Inverso), but they’ve been at it steadily since 2003 and very clearly know who they are and what their mission is as a band. Their mission is doom metal, and their songs serve that end. Intoxicated as they may or may not be at any given moment, they remain lucid in that purpose and the eight tracks and 51 minutes of The Dark Side of Old Europa bear that out from front to back on a deceptively engaging linear path that is broader than it first appears. “Passage” and “Chimera,” and even the 6:28 title-track thereafter, are the lead-in salvo for the longer pieces that follow beginning with “Tauroctony (The Secret Cult of Mithras)” (8:30), and the flow of the album is all the more immersive for the crucial setup they provide — evidence of the band’s experience in terms of knowing how to put the listener where they want them to be.

The video premiering below for “Chimera” was directed by Pietro Tamaro and is rife with forest ceremony that according to the band represents human decline. I’m not disposed to argue. Good news for the species seems to be hard to come by these days, but if we’re on our way out, it’s hard to say we didn’t earn what we get. Nonetheless, it’ll probably be 10,000 years at least before the last of us burns, freezes, or plagues our way off the face of the earth, so we might as well doom out in the meantime.

Therefore, please enjoy:

Doomraiser, “Chimera” official video premiere

Doomraiser on “Chimera”

Chimera is a legendary monster from the Greek, Roman and Etruscan mythology, a horrible hybrid with divine origins portrayed with a mixed lion and goat body, and a venomous serpent as tail. The characteristic and surreal shape of the creature, a clear product of fantasy, has become through the years the symbol of illusion, of what is unreal, vain and elusive.

A stratification of meanings and languages that comes directly from an ancient imagery, which probably reflects an attempt of recreating, in the past, the hideous and hybrid forces of nature. Chimera represents a dark concept, based on a bizarre and unsteady basis, caused by its grotesque and shapeless character, and by its “versus nature” aspect, which represents the “non form.”

The song itself speaks of the Chimera as a concept of illusion, the indefinite and the chaotic; it describes the theme of precariousness of human life, as an extremely fragile dimension compared to the vastness of eternity.

The idea of growth and progress in this historical phase are just illusions, Man walks more and more away from Knowledge, has no more awareness, has lost direction, so he tries to exceed Nature itself, but nonetheless everything has its birth and death, beginning and end, Alpha and Omega. Empires have fallen over time, entire populations and cultures are gone forever. The video represents this human decline, the fragility of an ever delicate balance, the materialization of the “fathers of illusions” and “mothers of void.”

“The Dark Side of Old Europa” will be released on January 24th 2020 via Time To Kill Records.

The album was produced by Danilo Silvestri and by the band. Renowned artist Roberto Toderico is responsible for the impressive cover artwork that’s now available along with the album’s tracklist.

“Exploring Europa’s darkest events, we conceived an obscure sound relying on the Doomraiser ‘heavy drunken doom’ trademarks: heavy metal played at a monolithic pace, where fast and slower, gloomy introspective parts often collide. The final result is very ‘live sounding’, every instrument breathes with vicious abandon while building a tight wall of sound. This time around the songs’ length has also been reduced in order to strengthen their impact and intensity”.

Pre-order: https://doomraiser-thedarkside.bandcamp.com/

“The Dark Side of Old Europa” tracklist:

01. Passage
02. Chimera
03. The Dark Side of Old Europa
04. Tauroctony (The Secret Cult of Mithras)
05. Terminal Dusk
06. Haxan
07. Continuum Pt. 1 (Suspended in Darkness)
08. Loathsome Explorer Interpolation

Line-up:
Nicola Rossi – Vocals/Synth
Marco Montagna – Guitars
Giuseppe Nantini – Guitars
Andrea Caminiti – Bass
Daniele Amatori – Drums

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