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They called it “Torre dei Ladri” (“Tower of Thieves”) because from its battlements the lifeless bodies of criminals were hung upside down, exposed for an entire day to the people of Salerno: a warning to those who wanted to emulate their deeds. Jennarus was a gravedigger by trade: during the day he buried the dead at the cemetery, at night his job was to remove the corpses from the public gibbet at the top of the Tower, tidy and clean them up and then the next day transport them to the Medical School, where they would be used for the students’ anatomy lessons.
That night, the body of Orpheus the Handsome, anti-Longobard bandit and hero of Salerno’s slums was hanging by his feet from the chain. Orpheus had been found lifeless in the room of an inn, slumped on the table where he had laid out the spoils of his nightly raids. Prince Gisulph’s guards, who had long been on the bandit’s trail, could not believe their eyes: Orpheus was already stone dead, ready to be hung.
Jennarus, in hoisting the body onto the tower terrace had noticed that Orpheus wore a ring on his finger. A fact he had found strange, considering that bandits, before being hung, were stripped of all their possessions. An oversight, he thought, because that ring was so thin that probably no one had noticed it. When he slipped it off his finger Jennarus noticed that the ring was superbly crafted. It sparkled, as if it shone with its own light. Was it magical? As he was admiring the ring, an amazing thing happened: the corpse of Orpheus opened his eyes and stood up. The revived Orpheus had looked at his hands and exclaimed, “The ring!” He had then forced Jennarus to return the artifact to him and then throw it far away, down the tower. “Cursed be this ring!” Jennarus, petrified with astonishment, could not avoid the bandit’s escape.
Jennarus was then seized with despondency, realizing that the corpse he was supposed to take to the medical school was gone. Not only he would lose his pay, but what could he tell? Reporting that unbelievable story would only bring him trouble. So Jennarus decided to tell nothing and go and dig up the corpse of the young merchant he had buried a few hours earlier at the graveyard. For the doctors, any corpse is as good as another, he thought.
As he descended from the tower, Jennarus saw something glittering in the grass: the ring the bandit had thrown! That object seemed to call to him with its luster. It was so beautiful and precious that it seemed to say to him: take me! Hesitantly he picked it up and put it in his pocket.
When the work at the graveyard was almost finished, Jennarus was surprised by a guard on patrol. He cursed to himself, but did not flee: he was the gravedigger after all. He explained that these times were really hard, that a lot of people were dying, that he no longer knew where to put the corpses, so he found himself finishing the job in the middle of the night. The soldier listened in silence to his speigations, after which he told him, “In my opinion, you are a grave robber.” The soldier searched him for the loot, which of course he would pocket. Jennarus prayed that he would not find the ring. No one listened to his prayers. “Here is the proof that you are a thief! This beautiful ring!” The soldier tried to slip it contentedly onto his finger. However, the ring was a little small for his fat fingers and he struggled with it. Jennarus advised him against wearing it, because he was cursed, but the soldier kicked him away and finally, with a superhuman effort, managed to slip the ring on; then, as if seized by a lightning evil, he slumped lifelessly to the ground. Jennarus tried hard to remove the ring from his finger, but - alas - it seemed impossible. When a second patrolling soldier, attracted by the noise, overtook the scene, he saw Jennarus bending over the corpse of a guard as if in an attempt to pull his finger off. He could do nothing but arrest him.
At the barracks, Jennarus told the story of the ring and convinced the prince’s official that he could prove his point. When the ring was slipped off the soldier, the man returned to life as Jennarus had predicted, but the charge of murder was changed to the much more serious one of witchcraft. Jennarus wept and despaired, “It’s not me, it’s the power of this cursed ring! Ask Orpheus the bandit: he is alive! Seek him!”. He was ignored, however, and the ring was seized from him.
When the executioner led Jennarus to the top of the Tower of Thieves to execute him and hang him upside down, the condemned man realized that Orpheus could do nothing to help him anyway: the bandit’s body had already been hanging from the Tower for a few hours. This time, dead for real. And Jennarus went to join him shortly thereafter.
A month after the narrated events, at the Salerno Medical School, two students were preparing a cadaver for an anatomy class when one of them noticed that the cadaver had a ring on his finger. “Leave it there, it’s none of our business!” said the former, but the latter did not seem intent on listening to him. That ring had mesmerized him with its glow and beauty. “It looks really precious... and maybe even magical!” After he slipped it off the corpse’s finger, something incredible happens.
DIY label focused on ambient punk, minimal-synth, dungeon-drone, wartime music and post-nuclear wave. Managed by a creative punx collective from Milano city.
supported by 53 fans who also own “TORRE DEI LADRI - Torre dei ladri”
A dreamy, beguiling, nostalgic dungeon synth quest through the shires. But, it's so much more than that. The LP incorporates some unique key changes, field recordings and a lot of Mort Garson style synth work. It sometimes reminds me of old 70's PG horror soundtracks. The record is addictive melancholy inspiration. The ideal music for accompanying the dawning morning of an epic adventure. brantly
supported by 46 fans who also own “TORRE DEI LADRI - Torre dei ladri”
Dinosaurs and Dungeon Synth? PERFECT. This is the album that really got me into dungeon synth again and made me continue my dinosaur obsession. winstonrandom
