Spanish Golgotha are among the pioneers of melodic death doom in their country, considering that the first demo dates back to 1993; like all bands with a very long history we also find a consistent period of silence between 2005, after the release of the third full length New Life, and 2018, age of the return to the scene with the ep Arise: for this reason, too, the parable of the Palma de Mallorca-based band can basically be divided into two parts, taking on the one hand everything that was released up to 2005 and and, on the other hand, everything made after 2018. Golgotha had in fact restarted with two of the founding members, namely guitarist and bassist Vicente Paya and vocalist Amon Lopez, and the album released in 2019, Erasing the Past, had been of a good standard, even if it did not reach the level offered by their own disciples, especially Helevorn and Evadne, bands that at the beginning of their careers drew sap from what their predecessors had done, then surpassing them in terms of impact and performance intensity. Mors Diligentis, released this year, sees Golgotha grappling with a new line-up led by Paya alone, following the exit of Lopez, and this has triggered a change rather than the last album, also and above all due to the use of double female voice, with Miriam Valles (growl) and María J. Lladó (clean); this solution is nothing new, but it definitely works very well because the growl proves to be quite effective while the clean one does not reach levels of absolute excellence but is very appropriate and, above all, does not indulge in tedious lyrical temptations. The eight tracks that make up the album all flow very well and show a much more direct and convincing face of Golgotha than even in the more recent past, placing them on the same level as those who brought the Spanish melodic death doom scene among the most prominent in Europe in the past decade in and the current one; Mors Diligentis is a very convincing comeback, to signify that the good Vicente Paya has absolutely no intention of giving up, demonstrating that not only thanks to experience but also to a newfound enthusiasm one can still offer, after such a long career, a work of considerable depth.

2022 – Xtreem Music