The Black - Gorgoni

The Black
Gorgoni
2010 Black Widow Records
This is the Italian band, The Black, not the Swedish one. And before anyone starts yammering that they need to change the name, the fact is that this band has been around a little longer. So let the Swedes change their name to The True Black or some other nonsense. The main guy here is one Mario "The Black" DiDonato. The man has been around in the Italian scene for a long time, first as a member of Unreal Terror, and then in Requiem. Unreal Terror dates all the way back to 1979, but I only know for sure that he was on their two releases in 1985 and 1986. Requiem were around from the mid-80s to at least 1992, and just had the majority of their discography pressed as a double CD. It was here that DiDonato started to put together the formula that would become The Black. The Black are a little hard to pin down. At times, they're very much in a heavy/doom metal vein. But at the same time, there's also a lot of progressive elements. If that's not enough, DiDonato sings everything in Latin. I wouldn't go so far as to call them "occult," but a very dark feeling can be found in both this album as well as the ones they've done previously. "Gorgoni" appears to center around the Greek legends of Perseus and Medusa, although if you're looking for a metal version of "Clash of the Titans," this isn't it. Given that this album was released on Black Widow, it's a little hard to find, and will be on the expensive side if you do. But if you're into dark progressive doom of any sort, I promise that the time searching and the money paid will both be well spent.