Natron

History

If you talk about death metal with a look at Italy, you can't do it without referring to Natron, among the prime movers of the local scene in the early 1990's.

Initially influenced by 1980's thrash metal , Natron mixed the sheer brutality of 90's death metal with the uncompromising speed of grind core and became purveyors of a weird and unique style of death metal: complex riffing, insanely intricate song structures, rotten brutality, and a particular focus on gory horror and dystopian lyrics.

Hailing from the igneous shores of southern Italy, Natron formed in May 1992 as Piper of Hamelin. In 1993 the became Natron, and made a name for themselves in the underground with two demo tapes, 'Force' (1994), 'A Taste of Blood' (1997) and the 'Unpure' EP , officially released later in 2000.

In late 1997 Natron debut with 'Hung, Drawn & Quartered' on Headfucker Records, the then leading magazine of reference in brutal death metal - capturing the attention of underground fans and mostly of the bigger French metal label Holy Records which signed the band for the next 4 albums.

Between 1999 and 2004 the band released their 3 crucial albums 'Negative Prevails', 'Bedtime for Mercy' - both recorded in Sweden at the legendary Abyss Studios - , their most critically acclaimed album 'Livid Corruption' mixed at the Starstruck studios in Copenhagen, Denmark, and 'Necrospective' including all the early material and bonus tracks.

The band went through years of extensive touring, several festivals participation, continuous line up defections and a label change that brought to the most "thrashy" chapter of their catalogue, the album 'Rot among Us', out in 2009 via Metal Age Productions.

In 2012 the band is back with 'Grindermeister', a celebrative record of their 20 years anniversary which sees the return to the surgical brutality and gives the fans a chance to listen to a new and improved rendition of their old classics.

One last EP out in 2014 and named 'Virus Cult' brings the band on tour until the very end in January 2017.

In more than two decades Natron strengthened their faithful following recording quality albums which obtained great reviews in Rock Hard, Metallian, Terrorizer, Aardshock, Hard & Heavy, Metal Shock, Metal Hammer and many more world magazines, intensively toured all over Europe sharing the stage with the best names in metal and playing memorable gigs in France, Spain, Benelux, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK, Poland, Scandinavia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Greece.

Natron paved the way for a new generation of underground bands and solidified their status of respectable European old school death metal band.

In early 2021

After 25 years they disbanded and are now consigned to history with the more than deserved nickname of "the Italian godfathers of death".

(source: Time To Kill Records, January 2021)