The Death/Thrash Metal outfit VII ARCANO is located in ROME, ITALY ca. 1989, born as a death/doom band named SEPOLCRUM, hitting the roman death metal underground in the first Italian Death Metal years. New monicker appears in 1994, on the first ltd 7” ep "Gather My Blood Forever", 2 tracks of gloomy and depressive metal. Founder guitarplayer ROBERTO CUFARO and bassplayer MARCO MONTAGNA soon choose to renew the whole project to give VII ARCANO a new renaissance, so a new band is set up and rehearsed until it reaches its climax: vocalist MIRKO SCARPA (a great resource of rage, throat, and endlessly flow of speech) from underground deathsters OMICRON, and drummer GILLES SCHEMBRI from PILGRIM join the crew to shape the sound towards a more concrete melodic death metal form. At the same time, bass duties are left vacant by M. MONTAGNA, who settles up to cover the lead guitar role. The renewed band is caught by Warlord Records which engages it for its first album INNER DEATHSCAPES, a massive piece of death metal art, released in 2001 and recorded @ THE OUTER SOUND STUDIOS by GIUSEPPE ORLANDO (NOVEMBRE). While working on new material R. CUFARO (now fully caught by the 3rd ROOM project) leaves, and the guys begin re-writing and reinterpreting the VII ARCANO sound, still without losing in intensity and personality. Time flows, bass players come and go, and at least half a new album is ready, when M. MONTAGNA finds a new comerade in the person of guitar player DIEGO D'ACUNTO, a perfect match for the VII ARCANO thrashing violence. Together they complete the songs for the 2nd effort "NOTHINGOD", again recorded by G. ORLANDO with the help (both on bass and on the console) of VALERIO DI LELLA from GRIMNESS. The recordings begin in 2003 by but unfortunately the album is not published until late 2005, with the collaboration of HARDEBARAN/TWO FAT MEN. These 9 thunderbolts (including a cover version of Testament’s “Burnt Offerings”) settle the definitive VII ARCANO sound of their 2nd decade. Later on, the blowing bursts of bass player PARANOIA (aka CARLO PAOLUCCI, member of PROMAETHEUS UNBOUND deathsters) and drummer FRANCESCO STRUGLIA (still from P.U.) enter in the band, but not for much, because F. STRUGLIA soon leaves his place to the frenzy of MAURIZIO MONTAGNA (in force with EBOLA hardcorers/grinders): still another perfect match for the combo. New songs breed themselves with fresh vital lymph, but before proceeding to the 3rd full length, most likely to be called "VINTAGE LVXURIA", VII ARCANO is releasing 3 tracks in the name of a "MERCILESS DISTORTION" single/promo cd, and is looking for a new label/distribution for its work. Recorded in no-time by skillfull hands of V. DI LELLA as sound engineer, the band’s style is increasing in power, speed and aggression, representing the rawness of its live shows on tape as never performed before. - September 2ooVII
