Colonna infame skinhead
Colonna Infame Skinhead

Street punk and Oi!, or rather: the genres that, second only to certain factions of heavy metal, represent the savage ferocity turned into music. And Colonna Infame SH are no exception. But let's take a step back.
Late '90s. In Italy, hardcore and the like, riding the wave of Nabat and Negazione, continue to produce high-level bands, while simultaneously power metal by Rhapsody and company, along with hip hop/rap from people like Bassi Maestro and - shortly after - Caparezza, begin to gain popularity, at least in certain circles. Internationally, metal and punk are experiencing a period of crisis, with both genres deprived of their past strength and facing an uncertain future.
And then another thing: politics. These are the years when Italy, having "emerged" from the dark events of previous years, approaches the new millennium; the '68 is now mythologized, countercultures are changing and a new way of doing politics, more "commercial" and "televised," is emerging. In this environment, tired and embittered, between the hot, gray asphalt and the sun that cracks the stones in Rome, they are born: Colonna Infame Skinhead.

Their message is clear: enough nonsense, let's stop with that stoner aesthetic, let's do something concrete in politics. Hostile towards the fascists, hostile towards the sell-out politicians, hostile especially towards the hippies. Stoic and squared up, ruthless, insensitive, raw and brutal.
"Nessuna pietà" is a violent attack against drugs and the circles connected to it: yes, even those who have fallen into it, because "we were part of the system too, but we're still here and we're certainly no heroes." Or think about "Ferro e fuoco," not musically exciting, but that explicitly strikes against the four enemies of Colonna: riot police, bourgeois, fascists, and hippies. Disarmingly brutal is "Tu non sei dalla mia parte," where our sXe/SH strike against those who have made a pastime out of politics, without truly engaging, a message akin to that of the fantastic "Punk è moda" (note the ferocious cover by Impatto HC). Hatred and lucidity are instead the sharp weapons protagonists of "Ancora in piedi," which criticizes the "lobotomized brains." Texts are repetitive but effective, with the right words and anthemic enough. Musically, they are certainly not Malmsteen nor Megadeth, but repeatedly they demonstrate knowing how to find the right melodic solutions, as much as "melodic" might seem a paradoxical term to use.

What sense does it make to listen to this band today? A band that many times commits the same mistake in its lyrics that it condemns, which is superficiality; times have changed, collectives have demonstrated what they are capable of, and it is now undeniable that even a daddy's boy can approach politics. And yet, for certain environments, the ideological path is still long, and sometimes it would be necessary to reflect on how drugs still represent an element sometimes more important than politics itself for certain hippies, on how collectives and student groups still have much to do in terms of the effective solidity of their ideals, and on how alternative culture coils upon itself in self-satisfaction. Without forgetting, of course, the head-on attacks against warmongering policemen and starched bourgeois, not to mention the neo-fascists. For all the students who approach the political sphere not feeling in full harmony with today's hippies, never generalizing even against hippie collectives and the like, but needing to vent against those who don't know the difference between an assembly and a joint, always considering the environment in which the band was born, to understand them better. Colonna Infame have made history. And to the kid who is approaching politics, with sympathy for the collectives but suspicion towards smoking, who tells me they've listened to P38, I say "never mind that crap, listen to Colonna Infame."