Rotgod chronology: 2022

In early 2022, the original plan was for "Sonic degeneracy" to be released already in its entirety (both Vol. I and II, with the singles "Uncertain future" and "Hipster holocaust" interspersed in between). However, low streams for "Organic machine" had made me reconsider this plan, given the album's notable length and potentially hard-to-digest style for the audience. Plus, the idea of printing a DIY double CD was getting less and less likely, especially after noticing how even the largest CD-Rs (900 MB) struggled to contain all songs for each disc. Feedbacks in 2021 had been impressive, but some change was still needed - thus, a package of two more "transitional" releases was prepared: first, the "Jesus Christ pornostar" EP, which would present the long suite I had written back in summer 2017 as a standalone release, hyping it up as a huge event by setting release date to Easter day; second, the "Sonic degeneracy" CD, which would present a trimmed down version of the album (renamed "A senseless selection from the insane complete work") featuring only 12 songs, before releasing the complete edition exclusively in digital format on Bandcamp - "for true noise maniakks only", as the saying goes.

Around the same time period, all of a sudden, I was starting to feel extremely active and focused once again, having managed to crawl out of my state of low motivation and inspiration that had slowed me down in writing new music during the years I was recording "Sonic degeneracy". So, I was finally able to complete in no time all the songs I still had left hanging (such as the "Eternal return" instrumental), write a few new ones ("Sado-death" and "Renè Ferretti mosh") and write all the lyrics that were still missing, unifying all these songs around a specific concept - the concept for "Polemics and obscenity", a miniseries of two EPs that would feature these new songs interspersed with a bunch of cover songs that I felt were very fitting at the time. Excited by this new, finalized material, I immediately started thinking about new recording sessions, learning from what had gone wrong on "Sonic degeneracy" and keeping what had worked.

And, as if that weren't enough, around the same time I also had my very first side-project experience: to be more specific, a little one-off project I needed in order to just vent out an idea I had been developing for many years inside my head for a melodic black metal song in classic 90's swedish style (Dissection, Naglfar, Vinterland, Unanimated etc.) - clearly a direction that was totally incompatible and impossible to integrate within Rotgod's notoriously raw sonic tissue.

So that's how The Ineffable was born - an experience that saw me being assisted by members of Lutto (a top-tier gothic black metal act from Siracusa) to bring my song to life with the right amount of care and professionalism. But that's another story - and you can find it in the related section of the site!

After weeks and weeks of cryptic previews on social media, on april 17 (Easter day 2022) digital EP "Jesus Christ pornostar" was released. I had commissioned the artwork to Gore Occulto, who had already done the "Paranoid Superstitious Schizoids" one: this time around, I tasked him with vandalizing (er, let's say "restaurate") the Holy Shroud of Turin with the addition of a rather blatant anatomical detail. His reaction to my idea ("man, we're going straight to hell") tells you everything you need to know, and it wouldn't even be the last time I would involve him in such blasphemous shenanigans.

I had put a lot of faith in this EP, and it worked wonders indeed: Bandcamp streams reached their peak up until that point, and audience engagement grew considerably higher, breathing new life into the Rotgod project.

Around the same time, with live gigs coming back after the lifting of COVID restrictions and the generational turnover happening around those years within the metal audience, I made an acquaintance that would drastically influence both my life and Rotgod's career: I met the amazing Leonardo Pace, better known as Shax - a young old school/underground metal enthusiast I instantly established a strong friendship with, that still lasts to this very day. Right from the start, he was very active in supporting Rotgod - to the point of creating some unofficial DIY merch, and of course bringing the project to the attention of various people within the local scene.

Together with him, I decided to shoot a light-hearted, humorous teaser trailer announcing the release of "Sonic degeneracy" on CD - for which in the meantime I had secured a co-release deal with both Krosty's label (Barbarie DIY Records) and Sinistro's label (Lunar Light Records).

The trailer, featuring surrealistic, almost self-parodying acting, being accompanied by Domenico Bini and Anal Cunt songs, filled with various italian trash references in a similar way to the "Sybaritic metal" video, and also featuring a tiny easter egg for old school italian metal maniacs, was posted both on Rotgod's official Facebook page and Leo's Instagram profile - where it gained terrific success, incrementing hype for the album considerably.

The album was officially announced around early fall - and while waiting for it to come out, on november 16 I released the single "Uncertain future" as an appetizer, gaining widespread word of mouth and remaining to this day one of Rotgod's most appreciated songs. For the cover art, I asked Krosty to make an 80's-style handmade grindcore collage, very much in line with the times we were facing back then.

However, during that autumn, things were not going well for me at all: I was secluded at home, with my foot recovering from a bad accident, feeling more nervous and pissed off than ever (to the point I even rewrote lyrics for a track planned for "Polemics and obscenity", re-naming it "I'm joining the terrorists" as a homage to italian legend Mario Magnotta, king of tantrums thrown over the phone).

And yet, something good came out of all that negativity: right around that time, I returned to a level of productivity I had not seen (songwriting-wise) since writing "Sonic degeneracy" in 2015-2017 - so I started working on various new side-projects spanning across different genres (such as raw black metal under the Black Katharsis moniker, even though it wasn't called that way yet), while also writing new material for one more Rotgod EP titled "Raw is the law": a total declaration of war against the modern metal/hardcore scene (the so-called "funderground") and its partakers, as already suggested by the track "Insipid metal" written one year prior.

With renewed vigor, after regaining motility, I returned in december to the legendary Rotcave, closing the year by starting new recordings (this time doing drums first, with radically renewed gear) for the handful of EPs scheduled for release post-"Sonic degeneracy".

After all, the album's release was around the corner by then, right? Right?

2021 • Index • 2023

Back on top