NANGA PARBAT - Downfall and Torment

NANGA PARBAT

Album: Downfall and Torment

Genre: Progressive / Melodic Death Metal

Release Date: March 23rd 2021

Country: Italy

Label: Sliptrick Records

Band-Links: WEBSITE / BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / SLIPTRICK

An Italian progressive deathmetal band, named after a famous mountain of the Himalayan Range? Yes, please! What started in 2017 as a project of Flavio Cicconi (Dragonhammer, Souls Unchained) and Edoardo Sterpetti (Souls Unchained) quickly took shape and after one year, the song-writing for the first album was completed. During the recording process, they joined forces with singer Andrea Pedruzzi (Zenit), bassist Enrico Sandri (Karnya, Utopia, Kaledon) and drummer Giulio Galati (Hideous Divinity, Master Boot Record, Nero di Marte) to complete the line-up, and now released their debut “Downfall and Torment” (March 23rd via Sliptrick Records).

Highly inspired by natural forces, NANGA PARBAT take their listeners on an epic journey through real and rough emotions - green plains, volcanic landscapes and putrid bogs are waiting to be discovered. “Downfall and Torment” is a powerful narration about human greed of power and a world on the brink of destruction. Wild beasts assume the role of cosmic guardians, defending what is left, protecting what will come to be.

The album opens peaceful on “The Edge of an Endless Waterfall”, then “Through a Lake of Damnation” kicks in and gives a good impression of what to expect from NANGA PARBAT: pushed forward by powerful, yet varied rhythms, orchestration and intricate riffs build an epic basis for the songs to develop. Growled and clean vocals bring in more diversity in the expression, and get support by a choir here and there. While the songs are mainly composed around the guitars, wandering between the aggressive energy of death and the virtuosity of progressive metal, the influence of symphonic and baroque-polyphonic music can be heard too. Over the next songs, they continue with this formula, changes in mood and tempo as well as the varied play with the before mentioned elements keep up tension.

“Tidal Blight” starts with some kind of tribal rhythms and a classical string arrangement, which was recorded by a real orchestral quartet. It’s these details that enhance the listening experience and make it a real pleasure. “Demon in the Snow” was the first song I heard from NANGA PARBAT a while ago, and it perfectly sums up, what they stand for, also considering the accompanying video that can be seen above. The title track builds the climax of “Downfall and Torment” with its nearly 13 minutes and was inspired by Shakespeare’s opus “Macbeth”, as greed is the downfall of the protagonist: he will pay the ultimate price for his crimes and malicious intentions. Musically, they offer once more a wide range of variety in their song-writing, before they close the album with the instrumental “Breath of the Northern Winds”.

I find myself enjoying this album a lot. There is not this “one track that stands out” nor is there a filler: “Downfall and Torment” is a unit and deserves to be listened as such. Thanks to the well-crafted, professional mix and production, all details can be heard, and there’s a lot to discover. All musicians show high technical skills, melted together by creative song-writing. NANGA PARBAT are an exciting new band for me, and considering that “Downfall and Torment” is a debut album makes it even more impressive. Fans of progressive / melodic death metal shouldn’t sleep on it and jump on their epic journey.

Written by Katha