ADIMIRON – Burning Souls

Right from the opening few bars of Adimiron’s debut album, Burning Souls, intro track, “Delerium Tremehens,” you know you’ve got ahold of something wicked, or should it be, you know something wicked has got ahold of you! It could be the similar sound to “Oh Fortuna” (the theme tune to The Omen) that puts the frighteners on you, or, it could be that Adimiron blast out some ferocious Death Metal that makes you hold on to your underwear to stop them from getting shredded into tomorrow! If that track “Floats Your Boat,” then continuing along the same sonic style is track 5, “Suffering Voices;” another instrumental with some Neo-Classical overtones, and, like most of the other tracks, changing time signatures throughout with the occasional stop/start break jolting your senses to make sure you’re paying attention.

Adimiron are: Leonardo Gioia – Vocals; Alessandro Castelli – Guitar; Davide Carotenuto – Drums; and Davide Corliano – Bass. The band’s website states that Adimiron are a LIVE band, and that spending their time on the road is their thing! There are a lot of bands like this — when it comes to studio time and recording, they find it very difficult. Adimiron, however, sound as if the culture shock of the studio has not fazed them, and they have taken to the claustrophobic studio environment with a passion. Of course, using New Sin Studios, perhaps one of Italy’s finest studios, for the recording of Metal music, helped a great deal in getting the most from the band. Leonardo Gioia’s vocals are your standard growling Death Metal, yet more coherent and understandable than some other singers of this genre. He also delivers with plenty power and exceptional timing.

One thing that has not transferred well in the live-to-studio transition is the guitar solos. There is no doubt that the solos are guitar widdly-wankery at their very best, with plenty of shredding, tapping, and sweeping with good use of pinch and natural harmonics, and in a live gig there will be plenty Metalheads, caught up in the moment, reaching for their air guitar to play along. However, on a one-on-one with his/her stereo, said Metalhead might notice that most of the solos start off or finish in a flowing harmonic parallel with the song, but somewhere in there you hear Alessandro going off on a “Hey, listen to what I can do!” shredfest, a kind of guitar solo blistered into the song. “Obsessive Insanity” is perhaps the track with the most obvious blistered guitar solo. That said, there is definitely nothing the matter with the guitaring throughout the rest of the album. Some tremendously heavy, chunky rhythm riffs; harmonic and technical licks; and even though some of the solos are out of kilter with their respective song, there is no denying Alessandro’s mastery of the 6-stringed beast!

The dual Davide Rhythm Section play an outstanding role during the album, keeping the time flawlessly throughout all the time signature changes and sudden stop/start breaks. “Forgotten Memories” is a track in particular that never seems to have the same beat for longer than 10 seconds, with more stop/starts than a city bus. You may think all of this changing and stop/starting would detract from the rhythm of the song, but this is not the case — they seem to be fundamental to the beat; jumping out and giving short, sharp jolts to your aural neurons. Davide Carotenuto’s drumming is pretty spectacular, with his feet playing something amazing with the kicks, his left hand tub-thumping to one beat, and his right crashing cymbals to another all at the same time. Davide Corliano’s bass playing is of the unobtrusive kind that you have to really listen for, but once you find it, you realize how much would be missing from the songs if it wasn’t there.

With Burning Souls, Adimiron have definitely shown that they’ve served their time out in the bars, clubs, and venues, and are more than ready to take their place on the bigger Metal World Stage. Bands such as Children Of Bodom, Throne Of Chaos, and At The Gates should be nervously looking over their shoulders and be aware that Adimiron are ready to challenge them for a place at the top of the heap!

Tracklist

1. “Delerium Tremehens”
2. “New Day Denied”
3. “Cold Anxiety”
4. “Forgotten Memories”
5. “Suffering Voices”
6. “Obsessive Insanity”
7. “Endless Worlds”
8. “Unexpected Life”