Dead Summer Society/So Many Years Of Longing/Rain Without End Records/2015 CD Review

  Dead  Summer  Society  are  a  1  man  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2015  album  "So  Many  Years  Of  Longing"  which  will  be  released  by  Rain  Without  End  Records  on  March  22nd.

  Record  player  sounds  and  clean  playing  start  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  alter  melodic  guitar  leads  start  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  recording  and  after  the  intro  the   music  starts  going  for  more  of  a  doom  metal  direction  that  also  incorporates  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  most  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Symphonic  and  ambient  sounds  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  a  great  amount  of  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  and  you  can  also  hear  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  in  certain  sections  of  the  album  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts.

  As  the  album  progresses  grim  black  metal  screams  can  be  heard  along  with  some  of  the  riffs  going  into  more  of  a  mid  paced  musical  direction  and  when  female  vocals  are  utilized  they  bring  an  operatic  and  gothic  feeling  to  the  recording  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  clean  singing  male  vocals  and  there  are  also  a  few  instrumental  tracks  being  utilized  at  times.

  Dead  Summer  Society  creates  another  album  that  mixes  black,  doom,  and  gothic  metal  together  and  the  songs  are  very  dark,  melancholic,  melodic,  progressive  while  still  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  heaviness,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Dead  Summer  Society  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  black,  doom  and  gothic  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Coldness  Gods"  "Longing"  "Winter  Day"  and  "Stalemate".  8  out  of  10.

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Dead Summer Society Interview

Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
-Hi, first of all thanks a lot for your review of "Visions from a thousand lives"! So...DEAD SUMMER SOCIETY's going well, got some great reviews and fans seem to be glad about it! Is a project in which I put all my musical influences and experience, a kind of oasis where I can completely express myself. After the release of "Visions from a thousand lives", the debut album, I'm already writing new material for a second one, with some more collaborations from singers/musicians...

How would you describe the musical sound of the newer music and how it differs from older material?

-Well...DEAD SUMMER SOCIETY started with an instrumental demo in 2010, titled " the heart of autumnsphere". After that work I soon started writing new material with the intention to add vocals to the new music, in order to get songs more interesting, more complete...but I think it's not the only difference, "Visions.." offers a wider range of musical directions, I think it has more influences, not only doom/gothic but also a hint of black/death, electronic, folk...everything is connected with different feelings and emotions...but everything is on evolution, and the next album's going to be a little different...

-What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

-About the lyrics I can say that emotions and sentiments are very different too, I delve into love, death, regret, everything within a dark-coloured vision of life...

-What is the meaning and inspiration behind the project's name?

- Well...I was searching for something which could remind a grey, sad, dreary season of life as the coming autumn is within the year...

-Currently you are a one man project with some sessions members, are you planning on expanding the line-up or do you choose to remain solo?

-I surely add other collaborations, both singers and musicians, but DEAD SUMMER SOCIETY will remain conceptually a solo project. I mean, I write all the music and lyrics and I want everything unchanged about that, but I like to have collaborators who can add personality to the work, so they have the freedom to try what they want and experiment on their own.

-Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label and if so what kind of label do you feel that would be a perfect fit for the music?

-Having a label could help a lot of course, but only if you deal with somebody reliable and passionate...there are so many labels which offer you tons of illusions and often pass away after a while...but luckily there are still people who love music and spend time (and money) into it...even if I'm unsigned I work with responsible and trustworthy people who help me with distro and promotion...about a label that could sign DEAD SUMMER SOCIETY...we will see!

-On a worldwide level how has your music been received by fans o/doom/black metal?

-I have to say that people appreciate "Visions", I'm working hard both on promotion and distribution in order to let the people know about my project...I think a fine aspect of the album is that it's not so immediate at the first listening, so you need some more to fully understand it and its variety...but even if I'm satisfied with it I consider "Visions" as a starting point of course, I'm conscious I have to go on in order to get to a mature and more personal and interesting sound :-)

-Are there any projects besides this band or is this a full time project?

-I'm writing music for a doom/death project called Temple of Prometeo, think it will be a very interesting creature :-) I'm also involved in How like a winter, a gothic/doom band, we're slowly, slowly working on a second album after a debut released more than 10 years ago...

-What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

-Of course I love doom/gothic and related subgenres, I love bands such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Opeth, Tiamat, Samael, Katatonia (my favourite band so far...) and their influence can be surely found into my music. At the moment I'm listening to several kinds of music, a lot of doom metal of course but also dark ambient as well as experimental music...

-Does Occultism play any role in your music?

-mmm no...

-Outside of music what are some of your interests?

-Well, I like reading, and if I had enough time I'd also like writing...poetry is something I really like...I like sport, I like to travel when I have time and possibility...

-Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?


-Simply thanks for your support, and thanks a lot for the time you dedicated to DEAD SUMMER SOCIETY, both for review and interview...and of course greetings to all the readers. Here you'll find some links to find info and updates about DEAD SUMMER SOCIETY:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dead-Summer-Society/140007062732886
http://soundcloud.com/deadsummersociety
www.myspace.com/deadsummersociety
deadsummersociety@libero.it
Thanks again!

Dead Summer Society/Visions From A Thousand Lives/2012 CD Review

  Dead Summer Society are a 1 man band from Italy with some help from outside musicians that plays a very atmospheric form of gothic/black/doom metal with some and death metal influences and this is a review of their self released 2012 album "Visions From A Thousand Lives".

Drums range from slow to mid paced drumming with not much in the way of fast playing or blast beats, while the keyboards bring a very dark, atmospheric, gothic, depressive sound to the music mixed in with some violins that give the music a very ancient feeling, as for the bass playing it has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars.

Rhythm guitars are all slow to mid paced riffs that combine gothic doom metal with death metal as well as some black metal influences mixed in with a good amount of dark sounding melodies as well as some clean playing that brings a dark ambient atmosphere feeling to the music with a good amount of full chords, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding doom/death metal guitar solos and leads.

Vocals are a mixture of deep doom/death metal growls, high pitched black metal screams, male and female spoken word parts as well as clean singing that combines both genders and whispers, while the lyrics cover dark, poetic and depressive subjects, as for the production it has a very strong, powerful, heavy and professional sound to it.

In my opinion Dead Summer Society is a very great sounding atmospheric band that combines gothic/doom/black and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this recording. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "I Met You In Heaven And Hell" "Down On You" "Her White Body From The Coldest Winter" and "Army Of Winter(March Of A Thousand Voices)". RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://soundcloud.com/deadsummersociety