REVIEW ANGUANA "SUMAN"

Anguana is a band that exists since 2017 and was unknown to me until now. They come from Marostica, a town in the Veneto region. Marostica is famous for the live chess game (with actors in "medieval" costumes), which for several decades has been held every two years in the town's piazza surrounded by arcades. It commemorates a legendary game, allegedly played in 1454, for the hand of the castle lord's daughter. The band name, Anguana, is the designation for the water nymphs that appear in the northeast Italian mythology.

Now the band, which belongs to the Venetic Black Metal Front, an association of some regional black metal bands, is releasing these days their second EP called "Suman" via the Greek label Nykta Records, with which the band already collaborated on their self-titled EP of 2018. Suman, in turn, is the name of the almost 1300 meter high mountain Monte Summano in Veneto.

Also this time the band uses an extremely coherent cover artwork, which shows an old, probably regional homestead. Although it is not a concept album, the Italian lyrics (I also read that the band uses the regional dialect in the lyrics) are about old regional sagas, myths and their statements. But let's get to the music now. The EP starts with the sounds of a harmonica before a guitar plays repetitive harmonies. Old-school black metal sets in, which comes across as raw and authentic and is certainly influenced by the second wave. But also the one or other thrashy riff is used before a lead comes in again. The vocalist has a good, croaking voice, which is in the tradition of good old black metal singers. Later on, folkloristic sounds were again introduced selectively. All in all, Anguana have found their own little niche between traditional rough Black Metal, folkloristic elements and melodious interludes, which sometimes spread a nostalgic-melancholic aura, which fits well with the lyrics and artwork. Finally, the extraordinary work is ended by an interesting four-minute synthesizer outro. Recommended for all those who like traditional black metal sounds, but still want to hear something a bit apart from the known paths.