Cibo
Appetibile

"As soon as I wake up, I voraciously eat/ German cereals, spill them on my market pajamas and feel sad/ then I immediately begin to doubt l'amour. / Only one certainty remains: if bowling balls fell from the sky, we'd all be dead for a while now…"

I introduced them to you in this year's live report of Grind Your Mother, and now I present them to you again in an official capacity (no adjective is less fitting for defining Cibo than Official). In 2004, our friends published this Ep ("but wait, there are ten songs"… "Yes, but it only lasts twelve minutes"…) with artwork (though obviously reduced to a minimum for obvious reasons) and a really good production for an underground group on their first recording experience (excellent work by the guys at "Studio H").

But let's take a step back: the Turin-based band Cibo is decidedly young (if I remember correctly, they should be around twenty-one years old), active for only a few years, and devoted to a Grind (not much) Punk (a lot) Rock (medium) absurd style similar to genre masters like Ultra Vomit and Blood Duster (especially the latter). From playing concerts in the seedy clubs on the outskirts of my city (the unforgettable night at Manatthan), they found themselves within two years playing on the same stage as Sinister and Napalm Death; moreover, as I learned a few weeks ago from the bassist, they found a label interested in publishing their material, and their debut LP will be out soon. At the time of this "Appetibile," El Paso Distribution, a branch of the historic social center with a mission to give space to emerging bands, had assisted Cibo. Thus, this Ep comes to the table, of which I'll now try to give you a taste, serving as an appetizer to their CD.

Grind Punk Rock, I said, a definition that might seem bizarre to many; yet, if you listen closely, you can trace elements belonging to all the genres I've mentioned; for example, the drumming leans more towards Punk (few blast beats and no double bass, at least it seemed that way to me), while the riffing ranges from Hardcore Punk to Hard Rock, not neglecting to dive into early Grind. Maybe there's not a lot of technique, but Cibo certainly doesn't have the intention to create a polished work just to show how well they've learned to play guitar; in short, "Appetibile" isn't Cibo's musical thesis. Above all the voice, in pure Pig Destroyer style (another reference group that slipped my mind until now), by Giorgio, capable of switching from the craziest screaming to decent growling (though I think the screaming fits better in their songs). The bassist's contribution is also fundamental, making the songs even more rhythmic and overwhelming. What remains to be defined is what precisely this "food" experience is. Because to appreciate this music, you must love nonsense, love being silly, love toys and stickers, love the grotesque sides of childhood or school experiences ("-emo-folder"), in short, you must immerse yourself in a Wonderland-like world.

What doesn't exist or lacks sense can become reality in a Cibo song: don't be surprised, then, to read phrases like "A nest of pizzas and, for dinner, focaccias" or if in the "booklet" there's Enzo (a mammoth), a gorilla, a Lego man, or on the back, a guy eating his own foot. I highly recommend a listen to any wrecking crew that, perhaps, will sense the same desire to play, spout nonsense, and cause chaos that could be found in Grind bands from the beginning of the last decade in these five guys. And more generally, I recommend a listen to anyone who enjoys the bands I've mentioned before, Leng T'Che, and all that stream of Grind that goes hand in hand with Rock while reclaiming its HC roots.

And after I've spoken well of them for all this time, you might wonder why they receive only a decent rating; there are two reasons. The record is too short (and this is a drawback), and moreover, I don't agree with their musical choice. Although I have a great fondness for this band, I would much prefer their sound to be more Grind-oriented and less Punk, which I find comes across too prominently. Lowering the rating is, therefore, a personal opinion, not the product's quality, which is upheld by the five's amusing ideas and their commitment to playing music.