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1782
From The Graveyard

Heavy Psych Sounds (2021)
Rating: 7/10

Italian doom metal has always been my thing. For some reason the country always coughs up something a bit different, and 1782 is another act you can add to the list of bands fiddling with fuzz.

If you’re not familiar with this trio then let me fill you in. The band began life just three years ago in 2018 and introduced themselves with the single ‘She’s A Witch’. In 2019, 1782 released their debut self-titled album which was a tad underwhelming, but now two years on we have From The Graveyard – 43 minutes of brain-fuzzing dooooom!

1782 provide eight tracks, opening with the distant bell tolling intro ‘Evocationis’ before oozing into ‘The Chosen One’, which is soupy, fog-drenched quagmire sludge with whiny, murky vocal sneers and a general downbeat tone of quicksand dominance. In a sense there’s nothing fancy about 1782 – it’s still laborious slop – but it does conjure up boggy atmospherics as it lumbers.

‘Bloodline’ awakens, yawns, wipes its eyes and drags itself out of bed on a stark bass twang, before the garbage men dump a load of sludge on the doorstep. It’s ominous, bleak and suspense-drenched in its barren approach and for seven minutes you are dragged into the bowels of lethargy; a slow motion apocalypse of black slimy guitar heaves and a percussion plod that would crack tortoise shells. When the vocal mourns of guitarist Marco Nieddu come, I’m thankful, almost saved by his lost, remote wails of despair, but at least they remind me there’s life beyond this wall of dragging dissonance.

‘Black Void’ offers no response; again the build-up is a slow, suffocating mire of feedback, distortion and gloop. There’s no real deviation throughout, just that samey lumbering dismal discharge. Due to such misery there is that tendency to drift off, although I’m sure the stoners of this world would no doubt blaze up another joint to celebrate such sickly secretions. But when a Gothic organ interrupts I’m frustrated as to why the band didn’t incorporate the instrument more, because suddenly 1782 becomes a different band.

However, it’s soon back to type. ‘Inferno’ is squalid, cumbersome and exhausting, while ‘Priestess Of Death’ is equally mesmeric, but at times dull, and I’m left wondering where that oddball Italian vintage charm has gone as the riff repeats itself time and time again and tests the patience.

‘Seven Priests’ brings the same slow build-up and there’s no questioning the weight of the trio as bass, drums and guitar collide and become one vast blubbery mass, but as closer ‘In Requiem’ treads familiar soundscapes I feel a tad fooled once again by the overtly occult artwork which essentially hides a rather one-dimensional black void of sludge that’s not overly creative, psychedelic or colourful. 1782 are surely capable of more than what is available in this damp cess-pit of apparent limitation.

Neil Arnold

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