Welcome to The Black Enderkid!
Founded in 2020 by 14-year-old Gaétan Ponzio (guitar/vocals), he recruited Tom Abrigan (guitar/vocals), Alexandre Giorgi (bass) and Guillaume Bex (drums) to complete Symptom Of Decline, his debut album.
The album opens with S.O.D., a mysterious introduction heralding the modern sounds found on The Final Breath, the first track unveiled, with jerky riffs strengthened by furious vocal parts. The choruses are slightly calmer, but raw energy quickly resurfaces while integrating cybernetic samples, and the trio keeps a similar approach with Six Feet Under, the next track, which features massive howls to complement lead vocals. The rhythm section also introduces some screeching harmonics that accompany the solo rather well, then the band returns to an intriguing approach with Newborn Plague, but rage quickly takes over again, leaving pure energy to drive the band. A dark break allows us to catch our breath before the explosive final that leads to The Other Side, where modernity is perfectly exploited to create a rather heavy atmosphere interspersed with catchier parts. The track is relatively long, allowing choppy Djent influences to have their effect, just as on My Beloved Killer, where the band present a slower and consequently calmer side to their music, letting clean vocals dance with a hypnotic rhythm, for example. Video games fans will undoubtedly love Broken Skies’ introduction, one of the tracks chosen to introduce the album, which condenses all the musicians’ power into just over four minutes of catchy riffs tinged with a hint of complexity at times. Apocalypse Protocol invokes the band’s Industrial influences, letting the instrumental composition move forward at its own pace, including samples, clean sound and more aggressive elements, before giving way to Born To Die, the last and longest of the nine tracks, which ignites without delay with its impetuous riffs, furious vocal parts and very Prog pauses.
The Black Enderkid forge their identity in the most modern styles of Metal, making Symptom Of Decline energetic but also very worked. There are also intriguing, calmer elements that allow you to breathe, which is a good thing!
75/100
A few questions for Gaétan Ponzio, guitarist and singer of The Black Enderkid.
Hello, and thank you for your time! How would you describe The Black Enderkid without using the usual musical style labels?
Gaétan Ponzio (guitar/vocals): Hi there, The Black Enderkid is a band in which the songwriting and riffs oscillate between modern and old school, the composition is spontaneous but remains measured and surgical.
What does The Black Enderkid mean, and how do you relate it to the band’s current music?
Gaétan: The band’s name is a modified version of an old nickname I used when I played video games, it was BlackEnder3, « Black » because black is cool and « Ender » because in Minecraft I had a fixation on the big black guy, « Enderman ». And « 3 » because it was already taken… It’s linked by the video game universe that we find in the sounds of our music.
Symptom Of Decline, your debut album, is just about to be released. Have you had any feedback on it yet?
Gaétan: It’s an album I’ve loved writing, and I can’t wait to see what people think of it. I’ve already had a lot of positive feedback, and that makes me very happy.
How would you sum up Symptom Of Decline in three words?
Gaétan: Spontaneous, sharp and precise.
How did you go about composing Symptom Of Decline? You created the band when you were just 14, have you seen your creative process evolve as you’ve grown? What did the other three members of the band bring to the table?
Gaétan: I wrote the album with Tom Abrigan, the band’s guitarist, so it was a spontaneous process that didn’t involve too many questions, and everything came together quite quickly. As the album progressed, I noticed an evolution in the way it sounded more and more « professional ». Later, Alexandre Giorgi (bass) and Guillaume Bex (drums) joined us.
You chose to unveil The Final Breath and Broken Skies in advance. Why did you choose them rather than others?
Gaétan: We chose them because we felt they were the most likely to become representative singles from the album. The Final Breath, with its catchy chorus and modern bridge, and Broken Skies with its retro video-game intro.
Although rooted in a modern approach, the album also features a wide variety of sounds. What are the band’s influences on Symptom Of Decline?
Gaétan: Dealer, Slipknot, Gojira and Car Bomb were the main influences on this album.
I noticed strong Industrial roots on Broken Skies, notably with the intro made of video game noises, but also on Apocalypse Protocol, the album’s instrumental. How do you manage to blend all your influences to create a coherent sound?
Gaétan: That’s what we like to call « gamecore », linking Electro/Sound Design to Metal is something I’ve always found interesting, like Northlane does, but closer to video game music.
I know it’s a tough question, but do you have a favorite track on this album? Or the one that seemed the most natural to compose?
Gaétan: The Final Breath is my favorite track; it was the most fun to compose.
What does the artwork represent, and how did you go about creating it?
Gaétan: The artwork represents a post-apocalyptic universe in which man has lost his place, destroyed by himself. Through his own fault, his former world is now inhabited by his mistakes.
You’ve signed with Tentacles Industries for the release of Symptom Of Decline. How is the collaboration with the label going?
Gaétan: The collaboration is going well. We’re really happy to be working with them.
What are the plans for the follow-up to The Black Enderkid? The only live record to date is the date of January 25, 2024, opening for Stone Horns. How did the show go?
Gaétan: The show went really well, and it was a great way to start things off. I was very proud to unveil to the public the work we’ve been putting in over the years, and our next concert will be on April 11, 2024 at the Makeda in Marseille with Eon.
How do you visualize a concert by The Black Enderkid from your point of view?
Gaétan: I visualize big sound, smashing riffs, video games and fighting.
Are there any musicians or artists you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Gaétan: In my wildest dreams, Northlane, Loathe or Sleep Token.
Do you think you’ve improved as a musician with this album?
Gaétan: This album has given me a lot of experience in computer-aided design, such as using software, recording, editing and mixing. I learned how to compose riffs that I like quickly and build a sequence around them with meaning and variation. I’ve also evolved in the composition and recording of vocal lines and screams.
What bands do you dream of playing with? I’ll leave it to you to imagine a date for the release of Symptom Of Decline with The Black Enderkid as opener, and three other bands.
Gaétan: I’m still dreaming, with Northlane, Loathe and Sleep Token, as soon as possible.
Last question: what dish would you compare The Black Enderkid‘s music to?
Gaétan: An NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070.
That was my last question, so thank you for your availability, and the final words are yours!
Gaétan: Thank you for your interest in our project, it was a pleasure to answer!