Ponte del Diavolo

Right outside the Traffic Live Club on Via Prenestina, there's already a palpable air of feverish excitement, mixing pleasantly with the scirocco wind raging over the capital. Hugely anticipated is the concert by Turin's Ponte del Diavolo, landing in Rome to unleash one of the most accomplished blends of darkwave, doom and black metal on the Italian scene. From the Piedmont underground to the stages of Europe's biggest festivals, the band's trajectory, led with dark sensuality by singer Elena Camusso, has been a lightning bolt, undoubtedly unique in its stylistic identity.

As the Traffic slowly fills up, Vicenza's Sonum open the night with their fairly classic death metal, capable at the same time of merging extreme dissonance with progressive atmospheres. Around 10pm it's the turn of Rome's own Aganoor, who deliver a powerful set starting with the steel-edged riff of "Bury My Soul", from their latest album "Doomerism". Anth Maelstrom's excellent guitar work drives the band through a setlist that takes no prisoners, from the doom of "Morbid Skin" to a ferocious "Emerald Lake", where the nods to influences like Type O' Negative land nicely.

It's the perfect way to set up Ponte del Diavolo's set, as the band takes the stage several minutes early to test out every instrument live in a soundcheck that seems to go on forever. Someone shouts curses against the sacred, while Elena Camusso runs through a few vocal warm-ups at the mic. The start is savage, with the doom-black of "Spirit, Blood, Poison, Ferment!" so powerful it nearly drowns out the vocals. From the gloomy, cold atmospheres of "Every Tongue Has Its Thorns" to the Italian-sung black-punk of "Lunga vita alla necrosi", the band's set gets going immediately, driven along by the use of two bassists. It ranges from the melodic doom of "Red As The Sex Of She Who Lives In Death" to the freshness of the synth-darkwave of "Il veleno della natura". The crowd goes wild for a superb cover of "In The Flat Field" (Bauhaus), before the black-metal fury of "Demone" and the dark killer-groove in the style of Siouxsie and the Banshees found in "Covenant".
The band bids farewell to the crowd after about an hour of music, immediately granting an encore with the aggressive, punk-tinged velocity of "Un bacio a mezzanotte". Everyone heads outside to enjoy the summer breeze and a well-earned last beer after a mesmerizing set.

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