Ten years ago, I was really convinced the italian metal scene was one of the weakest scenes of the world right after Zimbabwe’s and Bangladesh’s. These past few years, I’ve been discovering an incredible amount of very good bands that were coming from the boot. I can’t say any of them was the big thing, ready to rule the metal world, but there were an impressive bunch of bands showing great potential.
That’s, once again, the case here with Golem and their new album " Black Era ". The four-piece can’t be labelled too easily since they really bring various elements into their melodic death/thrash. Influenced by Scandinavian melodic death as well as more old-dated (American) thrash, the band succeeds in delivering ten songs mixing both styles so good, I can’t really make up my mind about what style I’m dealing with. First song rather has raw Cavalera influenced vocals on a fast rhythmic section that ain’t too far from early Helloween songs, when they were still into speed metal (" Walls Of Jericho ") and didn’t include gay high-pitched vocals. Some tracks go from typical Scandinavian raw and screamy modern death/thrash vocals (now also used by Metalcore bands), to some Chuck Billy powerful comprehensible gruntings.
What’s more interesting here is the fact the band always adds lots of details and mostly tons of superb, awesome, outstanding solos. From powerful riffing to tight drumming, there is nothing weak to be found, nothing sounding amateurish.
Only problem maybe, the band isn't trendy enough to meet the record labels current demands. I hope they’ll find the little spark that probably lacks to get a deserved recognition and, of course, a decent record deal.