Post-Metal: Affronto - Demo 2014 (2014)

74 / 100

A strong, promising, and unusually refined early release from a short-lived band.

Before eventually releasing their one and only aggressive full-length, the post-metal band from Veneto, Italy named Affronto had previously dropped a three-track demo back in 2014, dominated by hardcore influences.

Perhaps the Italian post-metal scene isn’t very well-known, even when mentioning Nero di Marte, who play closer to death metal, not many might recognize them. However, looking at Affronto’s lineup, there’s vocalist Michael A. Foti and Simone Carraro—who also plays bass in the sludge/doom band Wojtek—who later reunited in the post-black band Die Sünde, while the two Alessandros went on to form another band, Çoban, after Affronto disbanded.

This shows that they’ve been active within related genres and are experienced musicians. In fact, this demo doesn’t sound like what you might expect from a demo. It’s clean, well-organized, and solid, not raw or noisy at all. Michael’s vocals are more on the clean side, especially on the first track entirely, then joined by standard screams on the choruses of the next two songs, with a slightly possessed tone at both ends of the chorus in “Agnus Dei.” The choruses are what I feel sound like hardcore the most, as they use crowd-singing style.

As for the music, I’m a bit hesitant to call it post-metal, although there’s a clear sludge/doom feel in the guitars and tempo on the opening and closing tracks. Perhaps it’s also because the middle song is the most aggressive and quite fast, with post-hardcore-like melodies, becoming the most emotional track and even adding some atmosphere with rain sounds in the intro and outro. Unfortunately, the lyrics are unavailable so the intended mood is unclear, but the breakdown around 03:39–04:00 on this second song seems satisfying enough as a groovy part.

Alright, from this, I can conclude that my thoughts indeed flow sharper when writing in Indonesian, and although the vocals are somewhat doubtful, Affronto could still be called post-metal from the start of their career. And with this well-recorded demo, I’d recommend the songs “Sangue che trascina” and “Agnus Dei” if you’re curious.

[The review also posted on Metal Archives.]