•
Rating: Hellcome is an album that answers the question: can rock'n'roll inhabit a place where there are no rules, where one must be ruthless to survive and there are no guarantees for anyone?
The answer is yes, and that place is the South, our Southern Italy, which fortunately produces not only reggae, tarantella, and neomelodic music. From Calabria come (Allmyfriendzare) Dead to remind us with slaps and blistering riffs.
The sharpest among you may have noticed that the band's name is taken from a Turbonegro song; well, the sound coordinates are similar, but be aware that this band prefers surf over glam and garage over hard rock. The CD, which was released last summer but is still scorching, showcases 11 songs that constitute a blasphemous rosary of r'n'r.
From the opening track Gioia Tavor, exemplary of popular wisdom combined with '50s surf memories, to Charles Sbronzon, a stoogesque stab that has nothing to envy of other bands that today emulate that myth, up to the final track U Demoniu, with almost hardcore accents. The quintet knows how to reclaim its roots by hybridizing them with the right attitude and necessary attention to impact (on stage, they often change uniforms, but let's say it all starts from the usual rock stars' sacristy).
The first thing that will strike your ears (your eyes at most will be fixed on the cover) is the seemingly unheard and inaudible linguistic blend: the lyrics alternate between English and the Reggio dialect (but it would be more correct to say from the Piana di Gioia Tauro) as if it were nothing, and the funny thing is that it works. It has nothing in common with the attempts made in the '90s; here, it is rage that commands, and certain thoughts can only be expressed in one language. Translating them would lose their impact.
At this point, I hope that AMFAD continues in this direction; the co-production of the CD suggests that many believe in the proposal's validity. In the meantime, let's watch them grow live, certainly the band's ideal dimension, the rest will come by itself.
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By WaltFango
This album is not a predictable replica of the previous one but rather an 11-stop journey into the group’s imagination.
The stubbornness in preaching the rock word as immortal and remembering to be flesh and blood, that is, sinners.
