La Crisi
II: Tutti A Pezzi

Second album for La Crisi, an exceptional hardcore band from the former Sottopressione Mayo. Compared to the previous self-titled album, there is a complete change in the rhythm section (Dario, the guitarist and Mayo's brother, remains in place): Diste and Paolino, bass and drums respectively, are replaced by Lele and Moreno; the change, without detracting from the skill of the newcomers, has led to a certain loss from a technical standpoint, compensated by a sound that is decidedly more direct and powerful thanks especially to the production of Converge's Kurt Ballou.

The album turns out to be a well-crafted mix of old and new school hardcore (perhaps with a slight bias towards the former): furious and intense, yet with complex and articulated rhythms, one might almost say, just to give you an idea of what to expect, an "updated" version (pardon the absolutely terrifying term) of Sottopressione.
The fact is that the tracks present here (too difficult to choose any as they are all of very high quality) are real blows that have all it takes to become hardcore classics (and not just Italian ones), without getting overly caught up in the unnecessary mental gymnastics of whether it’s old or new school.

The lyrics are another strong point of La Crisi: never banal, they are intimate, reflective, and introspective to the extent that they might remind one, without reaching those levels of "crypticism", of something by Indigesti, from which "Senso di abitudine" is revisited. Throughout the album, there is a dark, suffering, and pessimistic atmosphere, certainly personal but also a product of these times: "you look for a smile and in my eyes/you find only tears/if only I knew where to go to start again!" Mayo shouts in the splendid "Né direzione né destinazione".

And speaking of Mayo, what can I say... when he screams into the microphone, no one else stands a chance, his voice manages to be powerful and clean, yet at the same time rough and acidic, probably one of the best hardcore singers not only in the Italian scene.

In short, La Crisi have proven to be a major force in the international hardcore scene and capable of raising (and they are certainly not alone in this!) the historic flag of Italian hardcore (and to hell with the rhetoric).

"we arrive at the end of the day

already weary at the thought of what tomorrow will bring

we are all in pieces, all in pieces, all in pieces..."