Ordeal by Fire
1996 – 2002Turin (the dark Italian capital “par excellence” of gothic art): BURNING GATES (whose leader is Michele Piccolo) write one of the most significant pages in the Italian goth scene that the country has ever known in the past years. BURNING GATES, with their three albums (“Risvegli”, “Aurora Borealis” and “Wounds”), broadly distributed throughout Europe, and a vast series of concerts in Italy, France, England, Denmark, Germany and Austria (among which we can highlight leading events like their participation in the Herbsnachte in Raben, Carnival Of Souls in Derby, a good two times in the Judgement Day in Dorbirn and in the very prestigious WGT in Leipzig) have gained one of the most important positions for the Italian goth scene than it has ever enjoyed before. Their performances, often shared with other big bands of the international gothic scene (Altered States, Faith & The Muse, Corpus Delicti, Midnight Configuration, Killing Miranda, Funhouse...) will leave a lasting mark of true and genuine gothic rock that very few bands have been able to express in the course of the last decade.
March 2002 – October 2002We must start from these dates (the first indicating Burning Gates official split up, the second announcing a rebirth), to tell the story of ORDEAL BY FIRE. In fact everything could be “simply” summarised in Michele’s (ex BG vocals/guitars) own words: “I can’t do without playing music”; these words can also be read through the lines of a few NOSTALGIA gigs reviews; NOSTALGIA being a superband to which Michele participates side by side with members of various bands like NEFILIM, THIS BURNING EFFIGY, FUNHOUSE, KILLING MIRANDA, FACES OF SARAH, as well as with his ex BG mate Daniele. Musical abstinence could have brought Michele to speed things up joining bands already consolidated! But this was not the case and with the aid of a drum machine he spent a few months hurling himself on new songs...
October 2002 – THE TURNING POINT
The turning point happened when Michele discovered that his new friend Riccardo was also a guitar player. Riccardo, having listened to the stuff, decided to join the OBF project and together they began looking for the two missing members to complete the line-up. Fabrizio (ex WASTELAND– another historic gothic band of the Italian nineties) joined them on a cold and as always very alcoholic November night, followed in December by drummer Tiz.
An explosive combo. The emotional energy that Michele had put in his songs was immediately absorbed and enriched by the three other ultra-developed musical sensibilities.
THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
The results obtained by the band became tangible after only three months of rehearsals during a live studio recording, during which OBF, at one stroke, recorded a good 8 tracks. The time to plan a first official testimony of the band’s new gothic Word is at this point ripe... And in April 2003 “ROOTS AND THE DUST” was released, a first EP (published by INNERMOST PHOBIA), containing the first four sound samples revealing the band’s potential: “Re-creation”, “River in Flood”, “Obsession” (poem by Baudelaire), “New Dark Age” (cover version from THE SOUND). OBF’s name stormed onto the current Goth scene with immediate power, instantly gaining the attention of promoters and concert organizers. History then called for the first ORDEAL BY FIRE appearance in concert on the 27th of April 2003 at Transilvania Live in Milan (certainly the most prestigious venue of the Italian goth scene) to support the first descent in Italy of the American revelation of the moment: DIVA DESTRUCTION!
But Europe was also calling and, two weeks after the debut in Milan, OBF were invited to take part in the Judgement Day Festival 6 in Dorbirn Austria side by side with bands like Altered States, Murder At The Registry and Bloody Dead And Sexy.
ORDEAL BY FIRE’s guitars are “killing guitars”... Guitars that strike the listener carrying him to a true and harsh place where mercy has long since abandoned its throne...
WHAT THE FUTURE BROUGHT ALONG UP TO MAY 2004
Their EP met with a lot of success, obtaining great reviews in various Italian and foreign web- and magazines, among which a stunning review by Mick Mercer and one by Versacrum, where ROOTS AND THE DUST is considered as being one of the best releases in 2003 and their gig in Udine has been voted as one of the best gigs in 2003.
In the meanwhile, STROBELIGHT RECORDS gets more and more interested in OBF and includes “Re-creation” in its “New Dark Age Vol. 1” compilation, which achieves many approvals. The reciprocal interest eventually culminates in OBF signing an agreement with STROBELIGHT RECORDS, and at last, something many were waiting for, on June 7, 2004, their CD “UNTOLD PASSIONS” will be released.
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