Introducing The Lesser Gods

From M3P
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The Lesser Gods - photo by Emerson Vella

Sunday 11 April 2010 (Michael Bugeja - The Sunday Times of Malta)

Of all the bands on the bill at this Saturday’s Mediterranean Metal Gathering, only The Lesser Gods are previously unheard of. But if their name is new on the block, the briefest of glimpses at its line-up quickly reveals that this is no band of novices. All four members, essentially guitarist Adam Bonello, drummer Tony Griscti, bassist Andrew Christie and vocalist Jody Fiteni have a combined track record that traces the evolution of the Maltese music scene from the seminal Tigne’ era to the present day – from The Faith, Passion Blade and The Ophidian Twin to Characters via Cyberia’s electro-Goth excursions.

“The idea to form the band has been a long time coming”, Adam tells me when I drop in on the band during a recent rehearsal. “It was just a matter of finding the right rehearsal space”. That space landed in their lap less than a year ago, and not long after, the band started mapping out its musical co-ordinates; essentially sharing common musical influences and letting their individual preferences filter into the experimental jam sessions that came out of those early rehearsals. The result is a melting pot that is dark and edgy at its most extreme and blatantly hard rocking in a bastardized blues kind of way when the band goes off at a tangent. If this sounds slightly confusing, it’s meant to be, for there is no categorical definition of The Lesser Gods, only that their name is inspired by Greek mythology.

Bear in mind also that by their own admission, The Lesser Gods “work on ideas that move them from one dimension to another”. Make of that what you will, but once you have savoured the glazed obscurity of songs such as Aurora and Tortoise or the epic Salva Nos, the picture – ethereal round the edges but intensely pulsating at its core – does get clearer. “What we worked on in the beginning was capturing ideas in sound”, explains Jody. “After that, it was a case of getting inspired by the mood those sonic bites projected”. The results are impressive, especially so in that they manage to imbue characteristics from the original alternative ‘golden’ era without giving away overtly specific pointers while projecting an ingrained contemporary edge strongly informed by a leftfield mindset.

The band is currently recording demo tracks in the studio and has already confirmed another live performance in May.

The Lesser Gods website