Yes, a huge part of me wanting to call it that is because it is a distinctly Italian film genre, and since Ponte Del Diavolo is a distinctly Italian band, it is a pretty obvious connection to make. But there's a shitload of other Italian bands who don't bring that connection to mind, plus a myriad of other Italian film movements and yet I don't make the connection between Ponte Del Diavolo and A Fistful Of Dollars or La Dolce Vita or Bicycle Thieves or Cinema Paradiso. No, it's something gory and campy and flashy in its dark occult violence. Both Ponte Del Diavolo and the film movement that gave us Suspiria fire the same neurons in my mind.
I am gonna spend a lot of this review talking about this similarity rather than simply about the music simply because of how evocative Ponte Del Diavolo's music is. Having seen them live to confirm that their stage presence is equally as evocative despite not relying on anything visual aside prom presence and performance alone, I can state that their performance there also made me think of the same comparison. A lot of it does come from Elena Camusso's vocal performance, most of it in Italian but seamlessly transitioning to English, and with the kind of overly dramatic performance where the need for the melodramatic campiness supersedes the need to adjust to the musical rhythm and melody of the instrumentals, which I can see feeling too out of the box to some listeners.
But it's not like the band's music would be more straight-forward if it were purely instrumental, even if the instrumental elements are less melodramatic, but are still seeped in that gothic flair, have a knack for the extra instrumentation like the horns on "Spirit, Blood, Poison, Ferment!" increasing the cinematic quality. A very important element is the synth tone, especially in the opening moments of the album but also scattered throughout that has such a strong retro 70s feeling but also specifically one that reminds me of Italian prog rock band Goblin's soundtrack work. Wanna guess which band did the soundtrack to Suspiria?
It's not easy putting a single genre tag on De Venom Natura or on Ponte Del Diavolo's music in general. While the easier part is recognizing that the core of it is doom metal, the gothic touches are quite different from what is usually associated with "gothic doom", a lot of the darker melodramatic touches having more in common with the 80s version of the sound, the post-punk/deathrock kind, hence why Elena sometimes evokes Siouxsie Sioux or why a Bauhaus cover fits so seamlessly (though I still prefer the Nick Cave cover from the debut). But also it has a clear black metal thread within it, but one that seems more subdued compared to its predecessor, in favor of an increased sense of theatricality.
A sophomore slump was avoided without completely copying the debut not losing what made it work in the first place. Also, as a side note, I think it's such a genius design idea to have the bridge referenced by the band's name in the band's logo.
