If you thought that Italian hardcore metal could not be done than you were EXTREMELY wrong. From Teramo, Italy this four piece band’s new release, “Violence against Violence” is pure intensity that would scare even the most tough acting hardcore punk fans from the eighties. The album is full of heavy fast hardcore riffs, intense vocals, brutal drumming, and even some break downs. On a couple songs I even hear some groove metal influence where the guitar riff is well composed and stands out amongst most of the hardcore punk style riffs on the album. The song, “Respect the Scene” is a mix of different styles of metal and hardcore punk. Defiantly my favorite song on the album because the song’s intensity is very emotion driven that make me want to climb on stage and dive into a crowd. Also, on songs such as “Hostile!” the chorus is simplistic, but extremely catchy. Their cover of Terror’s “Less than Zero” is a decent, but the song is very short and someone accidentally left the recorder going for about four more minutes.
The overall production of the album is actually really impressive and reminds me of the production done on Hatebreed and Lamb of God Albums. The heavy low distortion levels for the guitar sounds great, and unlike most hardcore punk albums the distortion levels are not drowned out by huge amounts of fuzz tone which sound like a swarm of killer bees. The bass and drums create a strong backbone for each track. Before songs like “Relentless” and “Respect the Scene” the band uses sound clips from Italian cinema which is an effective way of transitioning into a song. Now my only problem with the production is the vocals. Hardcore punk vocals are supposed to be quick, but I sometimes can’t understand what Aldo is saying. On a couple tracks I can only make out his curse words and then the rest is drowned out by the instruments. Maybe because he has an accent I am having difficulty understanding him, but I feel the production on his vocals could have been cleaned up. Still he does a good job creating an emotional energy that helps make up for the quick phrases he makes.
In the end this is a decent hardcore punk metal album that takes on multiple styles and shows the world Italy can be hardcore. Out of five stars I give it a three and a half. I wish I could see this band live because I believe that the energy captured on the album would be even better live. I have to say Hardcore punk mixed with metal in Italy might be on the rise, but in America you can’t throw more than twenty feet without hitting a hardcore punk/metal band.
