Fornace were formed by bassist Possessed and drummer/vocalist Gnoll back in 2000, inspired by Rotting Christ and Varathron. Three demo tapes were released over the next eight years – ‘Highest Towers’ in 2002, ‘The Man Who Wanted To Change The World’ in 2004 and ‘The Awakening’ in 2008 – after which Gnoll departed. Since then Possessed has continued the journey with guitarist Mastiff, with some additional musicians, and this is their third full-length album. Here Possessed also provides vocals, along with second guitarist Sadomaster, while Paul Mingoni provides drums as he did on the last release, 2015’s ‘My Journey Is Ending But The Torment Will Be Eternal’.
‘Deep Melancholic Wrath’ starts off heavy, but certainly not black metal, and for a while I was somewhat confused as this wasn’t what I had expected to hear at all. But soon the band settle down for some very Darkthrone inspired black metal, which does contain some time changes, so not everything is at breakneck speed. They have also resisted the urge to mess about with production, a failure of many bands inspired by the mighty Norwegians, so the sound is quite good. But for some reason I don’t feel nearly as inspired as the person who wrote the press release, as while the Italians have produced a solid and fairly interesting black metal album, it is never going to set the world alight. There just isn’t enough drama, enough power or menace to make it a truly standout release, but while it may never win any awards, it certainly is quite a lot better than many albums I hear from the genre. Probably for fans only.
Rating: 5/10
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Track list:
1. Experience the Joy of Unhappiness
2. Bare Emotions
3. La notte dei morti
4. Everlasting Flame
5. Under the Bright Cursed Star
6. Her Beauty in Those Days
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