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TENEBRO
Una Lama D’Argento

Time To Kill (2025)
Rating: 8/10

If you know Italian death metal then you’ll be familiar with terror titans Tenebro. And if you call yourself a horror movie fan then you should know Italian director Dario Argento. Una Lama D’Argento is a coming together, of sorts, of both, this being the third full-length album from Tenebro who are paying homage to the filmmaker with another colossal slab of death metal.

Steeped in atmosphere, just like many of Argento’s movies (Deep Red, Suspiria, Phenomena etc.), Una Lama D’Argento is jam-packed with bludgeoning riffs which roll like carpets of compacted flesh down vast oaken staircases. The musty stench of ancient evil is forever embedded in the ethos of this duo who construct thick, churning rhythms of horror.

Kicking off with the audible slurry of ‘Inferno’, Tenebro brings those dense walls of grinding sludge which in turn leak speedier gushing. Nothing really changes here in this dank abysmal dwelling, Tenebro remain familiar, never venturing further than its territorial parameters but still perversely desirable as a crushing gnashing monolith of festering filth.

With each track the band drags us further into its subterranean realm, where a littering of Argento movie samples is expected and add extra coats of creepiness. My only quibble being the use of drum programming, but it’s still a pummelling weapon even if at times it feels buried in the mix and a tad unsightly when they do filter through. Some of the dynamics remind me of Mortician, especially on ‘Il Corpo Come Spartito’, churning riffs that are thick fatty muck machines carving like the rusty blades of a combine harvester ploughing through corpses.

‘Jennifer’ is one of my favourite tracks on offer; as an ode to the main character of Argento’s Phenomena, it’s based upon an unsettling array of heaving, hefty riffs and given extra sludgy nastiness with the ever guttural bellows. Strangely, though, I’m less compelled by this record in comparison to Tenebro’s previous outings, finding myself somewhat anticipating every turn and rarely excited about each journey.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a gargantuan Tenebro platter bolstered by the fetid grumbles of the already mentioned juggernaut ‘Jennifer’ alongside eerie splatterfest ‘L’Angelo Caduto Tra Le Luci Del Teatro’. The riffs boast an air of damp dissonance, squirming through cracks and crevices like a horde of hungry slugs. Indeed, it’s all here, vast suffocating walls of dripping fat summed up by the soundtrack of howling screams on the belligerent ‘Impiccata’.

Certainly not as flashy or as striking as the movies it pays homage to, Una Lama D’Argento still provides enough dark, dense pulverisations to quench the thirst of many a death metal demon.

Neil Arnold

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