Italian/Estonian death-doom metal savages Ferum are back! New album, Asunder/Erode, brings to bear all the crushing impacts of death and doom metal into a single stream of brutality. Decibel has teamed up with Avantgarde Music and partner Unorthodox Emanations to premiere “The Undead Truth,” featuring Cianide mainstay Mike Perun on guest vocals. Ferum hosts a bevy of top-level talent for their massive missive. To wit, Asunder/Erode was produced at Walter Productions in Tallinn, Estonia by producer/sound engineer (and bandmate) Are Kangusand and was mastered by Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Opeth); The gruesome cover art was by artist Paolo Girardi (Firespawn, Revocation).
Founded in 2017 by guitarist/vocalist Samantha Alessi and joined by bassist Matteo Anzelini and drummer Are Kangus, Ferum falls back to the early ’90s when bands like Cianide, Winter, Asphyx, and Autopsy were plaguing church congregations and the fertile minds of death metal’s golden generation. Since the Vergence (Everlasting Spew) EP on Italian indie Unholy Domain, Ferum have split their members between Italy and Estonia, but that hasn’t stopped the trio’s merciless march to their debut full-length, Asunder/Erode, which will see the unlight of day as a joint venture between Italian houses Avantgarde Music and Unorthodox Emanations. Ferum have already released the track “Halfhead” to wild underground plaudits a few weeks ago, but are now set to unveil the horrors of “The Undead Trut.”
Says Ferum’s Samantha Alessi: “Cianide is one of the reasons why Ferum was born in the first place. After we covered ‘Funeral’ on our debut EP, I kept in contact with Mike. He is a super-nice guy, with a great passion for metal and very humble attitude that I admire a lot. When Cianide released Unhumanized, he gifted me the copies in all formats and I almost cried when I saw that in the promo pictures of the booklets he was wearing a Ferum shirt. It doesn’t happen everyday that a band that influences you a lot is also spontaneously supporting you! When I was writing the debut album I thought to tribute them again, but I didn’t want repeat myself with another cover — so, I wrote ‘The Undead Truth.’
“Starting from the title you can catch the reference to Cianide’s The Dying Truth. The lyrics are, in fact, a sort of ‘answer’ to the lyrics of that album, from my point of view. Musically it’s a mix of Cianide-style riffs reinterpreted with a Ferum touch. Production-wise, the song (and the whole album) has been mixed fully in analog, in order to recreate the atmospheres of real and uncompromising death metal sound. In conclusion, The Undead Truth is a ‘Ferumized’ tribute to Cianide, and I couldn’t be happier and honored that Mike liked the idea and graced us with his horrifying voice.”
Only a descent into Hell with Ferum’s “The Undead Truth,” featuring Cianide’s Mike Perun, is real! Long live death-doom metal!
