Nabat
Scenderemo nelle strade

THE REVIEW

A landing with a gray terrazzo floor and an under-stair space, to be generous, where—again, being generous—four musicians are getting ready for rehearsal.

This is the most vivid image I get from the early Nabat. Whitish, like their carelessly put-together covers. Musically, Nabat are certainly not the crown jewel of Italian Oi!, a movement that over the decades has shown that it has bands who know what it means to make great songs; specifically, this first EP has much more historical than artistic value. But that doesn't mean it's a bad EP; I just mean that not every punk record deserves to be saved just because “well, you have to get the atmosphere, they were just kids making riffs as they came to them...”. Look, there have been records made by “just making riffs as they came” that turned out to be borderline masterpieces. “Scenderemo nelle strade” isn't one of those. Still, it has a few good songs and a historical relevance that is impressive.

The biggest flaw is probably the production. The title-track starts and it doesn’t seem to have many ideas behind it. It has a decent punch, but not many ideas. Okay, you listen to it a few times, you realize that actually there are some ideas there, but you need quite some imagination to picture them used at their best. Live, it definitely works better. The following “Senza soldi, senza casa” is pleasant, but with “Asociale Oi!” you get to the only really good track on this record. The lyrics are repetitive beyond what’s reasonable, but at the end of every riff you find yourself yelling, “Pensa solo per te! Asociale Oi!”. “Lavoro” has a chorus typical of early Oi!, capturing well what the period’s style was all about, which the streetcore movement later set aside in favor of tighter choruses or heavier solutions. “Shock nelle case” is another quality track that explores ska sounds, proving that Nabat weren’t just four ignoramuses but musicians trying their best in their own way.

Obviously, the biggest thing to appreciate about this record is the attitude, in a context that—as skinhead Oi!—made them outcasts among outcasts. Poison against the bourgeois: this record spits it by the pound. The energy, the havoc, the chaos, rule here. The vocals are chaotic and rough, almost piratical, and create an atmosphere that makes Nabat, as raw as they are, unmistakable. You should count yourself lucky if Nabat play live in your city, you’ll see what a mess they stir up.

Because it’s true, an under-stair space comes to mind where some kids are rehearsing, but do you know what for? Because that night, in some social center, they’ll raise more hell than ever seen before. So yes, not an unmissable record, but give it a listen.

“Perché noi non siamo cambiati, perché noi non siamo pentiti.” Score: 77/100.