Colonna infame skinhead
Demo

At 17, I was a metalhead who filled his days with studying, friends, a bit of goofing off disguised as political commitment, and a thousand mental tangles for which Iron Maiden, Strana Officina, Caparezza, and Manilla Road, just to name a few, served as my soundtrack.

What I think is most important to understand, in order to appreciate Colonna Infame Skinhead, is an issue strictly related to subcultures; a left-wing kid who couldn't get over the sloppiness of people in the collectives: I had friends among them, I recognized their efforts, I knew not everyone was in it for fashion; and yet with them, nothing to do, we just couldn't fully accept their attitude. The years in which I discovered CIS were the same years in which I was trying to come to terms with this, because at 17, being able to assign a color to your political commitment, to have a group, "to be one of them", well, that's everything. And that's exactly the point: I didn't really want to go beat anyone up (though, in my school's collective, some probably deserved it...). The thing is, Colonna Infame told me, "Look, kid, we exist too! You have an alternative, leftist culture isn't just sloppy, there’s something else out there!" I was on my own road to Damascus (the one from my music school to my house) when, in my headphones, I heard a scream or—better said—a howl: "E verrà anche il tuo turno, sporco fricchettone!" I can't believe my ears. Yes, he said it, he really said it. I had spent years badmouthing punk, like a proper metalhead, but maybe things were about to change.

So that's how I forced my band to play Colonna Infame covers: I wanted to send a message of criticism, and self-critique. A few months later, "Ferro e fuoco" was played by my little band with amps cranked to a thousand on the majestic stage of a... parish hall in the Viareggio outskirts. What, you got something against Viareggio?

The band combined a fierce antifascist skinhead rebellion with a deep need to revolutionize the cultural scene.

It’s "Ferro e fuoco" that opens this EP; Kozza’s tone is ultra-abrasive, it really feels like asphalt itself started singing. The chorus is deliberately cacophonous, sitting comfortably on a solid mid-tempo. "Dalla mia parte" (that is, "Tu non sei dalla mia parte"; various sources report different titles) goes for high speed with a really fun bass line and lyrics that made history by pairing aggression with real, reasoned arguments. "Non cambieremo mai" doesn't stray by even a comma from what’s been said so far and confirms that this brief demo is—musically—good but not transcendental; I’m not saying Colonna Infame is a band whose value is only historical: they’ll go on to write songs that, in my opinion, are very beautiful. But even though some of their most iconic tracks are here, this EP definitely leaves itself open to criticisms of monotony. Some fresh air comes with the Nabat cover "Lunga vita ai ribelli Oi!", which needs no introduction and is performed by our guys with great energy before wrapping up with the—musically speaking—most significant episode, namely "Borghesi," a Rough cover. I think this EP contains no bad songs, it demonstrates the Oi! roots spiked with hardcore and metal that Colonna Infame possesses, and it’s a great taste of what this fantastic band could offer. Its only flaw, as noted, is the heavy, sluggish mood that reigns over the tracks and ends up dragging the listening experience down. Songs with strong melodic ideas like "Punk è moda" or "Non morirà" would definitely have helped.

But after all, this EP is history, there’s no way around it. Colonna Infame embodies the spirit of an era that still has a lot to teach us. Many times I think today's kids would benefit from listening to these records—not so much for their ferocity, but because they’d have words thrown at them that would force them into self-critique; and the musical backing for that self-critique would be excellent.

Oh, just for the record, going back to the beginning: in the end, the angry seventeen-year-old I was made peace with himself and managed to come to terms with the hippies. Also because, as fate would have it, it was actually from the hippie ranks that a flame arrived... But that’s another story!

"A ferro e fuoco, ripuliremo questa città!" Rating: 81/100.