Hierophant’s Lollo picks the five best bad-vibe metal albums ever

Dude on the left is totally almost smiling (photo by Matteo Bosonetto)
Dude on the left is totally almost smiling (photo by Matteo Bosonetto)

After spending a bit of time with Mass Grave, the excellent fourth full-length album from Italian black/sludge/death/hardcore party-killers Hierophant, we knew that we had to have a word with these guys. But what do you ask a band who has just dropped one of the ugliest and harshest metal records of the year?

Easy: you get a hold of one of them and ask what their choices are for the five best ugliest, harshest, generally buzz-killing records of all time are. So we got guitarist/vocalist Lorenzo “Lollo” Gulminelli to find out his choices and to try to understand just why he loves his music so grim.

“Basically, I dislike good vibes,” says Gulminelli. “They don’t belong to me. Music, as I always lived it, is a protest, is the perfect way to take all your anger off. Saving some rare exceptions, rawness, 100-percent intolerance, and pure hatred are the only sensations I really want to feel when I listen and play music and the only sensations that make my heart shake. All my musical education comes from the raw side of punk and the evil side of metal, and, honestly, I struggle to see myself as a listener of something else.”

In no particular order, here are Gulminelli’s five fave party poopers:

Assück – Misery Index

“Assück are definitely my favorite grindcore band of all time. They’re all about straightforward brutality. No space for compromises, just heaviness. Lyrically, they deal with topics such as violence, authority, and humanity’s hopelessness, topics that I feel very close to. The drumming shines on this record and the riffs are 100-percent killers.”

Bolt Thrower – The IVth Crusade

“This record speaks for itself. They are arguably one of the greatest war-themed death metal bands that ever existed. They have such heavy-as-fuck archaic riffing that makes me headbang for the whole time. Their constant slow-paced sound is so brutal, so severe, and their songs are like an unceasing fall of bricks. Source of my huge inspiration.”

Disma – Towards the Megalith

“This is murk, corrosive, raw, ugly, but very enjoyable American-made death metal. This is one of the records I listened to a lot in recent times. I really love the low-tuned riffing in this record, it’s so goddamn heavy and unbelievably great.”

Tyrant – Reclaim the Flame

“This record means a lot to me. Always been a fan of old-school black metal and they play this genre in the same way that bands like Hellhammer, Bathory, and Celtic Frost played it. It’s absolutely not easy to play this music in the way it should be played, without sounding ‘fake,’ but they do, they do so well, and they’re just awesome. The production of this record is totally shit and I completely love it. They’re raw as hell, dirty, and so full of energy. If you consider yourself a metal fan and you don’t like them, you suck.”

Imposer – Contra Omnia

“They’re my countrymen and they fucking slay. They play an intransigent skull-crushing death metal/grind that blows me away. Evilness and hatred are two perfect adjectives to describe what they convey to me every time I listen to their music. Imposer are cruel savagery.”

Grab a copy of Mass Grave here.