Tag Archives: traditional music

Underground Sounds: The Malnàtt Collective – Pianura Pagana

Label: Il Male Production
Band: Malnàtt/The Malnàtt Collective
Origin: Italy
Since 1999 the group The Malnàtt Collective has been paving the way with their experimental metal. Playing with poetry, futurism and black metal, they’ve settled on… Well, that’s hardly settling you hear on ‘Pianura Pagana’. Their logo even contains a bit of Marinetti’s futuristic writing, suggesting the perpetual, machine-motion of the dynamic art movement. Peculiar? Indeed, but well worth listening to.
The core of the group is Helios Pu, also Porz, who has rand the mechanism for a good 20 years now. He also played in Marbas Cult, Buzzum, Vedova and probably other projects. Surrounding him is a never rotating line-up of musicians, filling in the vacant slots. Translated from Bolognian dialect, Malnàtt translates as ‘swine’.

You might not think of the combination directly, but the melodic and emotional Italian singing, combined with metal riffing and poetry delivers a powerful, atmospheric experience. Call it avant-garde, or atmospheric black metal, it matters not, because this is unlike anything you’ve listened to before. After a brief intro, the tune ‘Io ti propongo’ opens in a rather common way, with blast beats and remarkably clean riffs. It’s when the melancholic singing pierces through, that you get the uncanny experience, where metal and the cantautori of Italy meet.

During ‘Il Collettivo Malnatt’, the group moves into a more power metal direction, with dramatic, powerful songs and big movements. Bravely and boldly, the band implements poetry and art into a sound that is so unlike anything I’ve heard before. It’s innate melancholy and power almost completely obscure the thrash roots the band has (though they shine through now and then). Limits hardly hinder The Malnàtt Collective, as they move to a more punk-driven sound on ‘Chiese Chiuse’. I would call this whole album fascinating and daring, and it should be listened to a lot more.