Today we’d like to introduce you to Riccardo Sabetti.
Hi Riccardo, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started making music many years ago, driven mainly by the need to create something that felt personal and honest. I’ve always been attracted to darkwave, post-punk, industrial and electronic music, and over the years I’ve been involved in different projects, including Spiral69, before starting This Eternal Decay.
This Eternal Decay was born from the desire to bring together different sides of my musical background, combining darkwave atmospheres, post-punk influences, industrial textures and a strong electronic component. Together with Andrea Freda and Alessio Schiavi, we gradually developed our own identity and sound.
What started as a personal musical project has grown into a real band with several albums, international releases and performances across Europe. We’ve played festivals and clubs in different countries and built a growing audience, particularly within the European dark music scene.
We are still an independent band in many ways, so everything has been built step by step: the music, the live shows, the audience and the international connections. For me, that’s probably the most important part of the story. We’re still evolving, still writing new music and still trying to take the band somewhere we haven’t been before.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. There have been many difficult moments along the way, and I think that’s probably true for any independent band.
One of the biggest struggles has been trying to grow internationally without having a big team or a major label behind us. You can make good music and have an audience on streaming platforms, but turning that into regular concerts, tours and real opportunities is a completely different challenge.
There have also been periods when things seemed to move very slowly, despite all the work we were putting in. Booking shows, finding the right promoters, managing releases, promotion and all the practical side of being a band can sometimes be exhausting.
At the same time, those difficulties have taught me to be patient and persistent. We’ve built This Eternal Decay step by step, without shortcuts, and every time something works, a good show, a new country, a new collaboration or a song reaching more people, it feels much more meaningful because we know how much work went into it.
So no, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. But I think the struggles are also part of what made the band what it is today.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
This Eternal Decay is an industrial darkwave band based in Rome. I’m the singer and one of the main songwriters, and together with Andrea Freda and Alessio Schiavi we create music that combines darkwave, post-punk, industrial and electronic elements.
I think we are best known for creating songs that can be atmospheric and melancholic, but at the same time have a strong, immediate and sometimes almost pop-oriented structure. I’ve always wanted the music to be dark without becoming predictable, and emotional without losing its energy.
What I’m most proud of is the fact that we’ve built everything gradually and organically. We’ve released several albums, played shows and festivals in different European countries, and reached an audience of more than 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. For an independent band coming from Rome, that means a lot to me.
What sets us apart is probably the combination of our different musical backgrounds and personalities. We don’t try to fit perfectly into one scene or follow a specific formula. We take elements from the music we love and try to turn them into something that sounds like us.
Ultimately, I think the most important thing is that, after all these years, I can still listen to a new This Eternal Decay song and feel that it represents something real about who I am. That’s what I’m most proud of.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that you have to keep going even when you don’t see immediate results.
Music can be a very frustrating journey because you can spend months or years working on something without knowing whether it will actually connect with people. I’ve learned that you can’t control everything: you can control the quality of what you create, how much you work, and how seriously you take it, but you can’t control timing, opportunities or other people’s decisions.
I’ve also learned not to compare my journey too much with other artists. Some bands seem to grow overnight, while others take many years to find their audience. What matters is building something that has its own identity and staying consistent.
For me, persistence has become more important than talent or luck. If you genuinely believe in what you’re doing, you have to keep moving forward, even during the periods when it feels like nothing is happening.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thiseternaldecayband.bandcamp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thiseternal_decay/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thiseternaldecay
- LinkedIn: https://linktr.ee/thiseternal_decay
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thiseternaldecayHQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5MYAn0u2g4d3lRVLyrCC5J
