Operaja Criminale
Roma, Guanti e Argento

Operaja Criminale is, by their own definition, an "ideological musical laboratory" from Rome. Active for years in the Italian underground scene with their various side projects, Matteo Scannicchio and Andrea Ruggiero finally release their first album, produced by Giorgio Canali, a guarantee in this sense.

The work immediately leaves the listener bewildered, it has been years since anything so fresh and original was heard in the rock scene of the beautiful country; the songs deviate from the classic verse + chorus structure, creating curiosity in the listener to discover how the various tracks will continue. They create a sweet and melancholic atmosphere that is preserved throughout the album's duration.

The album opens with the single "E.C.G." which starts slow and melancholic with a singing style that strongly resembles maestro Canali, then explodes in an energetic finale supported by vibrant electric guitars.

The following "L'ordine naturale delle cose" repeats the same pattern as the previous song, slow and melodic beginning, this time with a voice that follows a more personal melody, then followed by a beautiful sequence of distorted guitars and finally a violin loop overlapping Matteo's voice and a female voice, creating a hypnotic intertwining with great effect.

The next track is "La routine dei guanti", a song released online before the album, the piece opens with a short introduction made only of voice and a few piano notes that manage to create a very sweet melody, the rest of the track sees the constant repetition of two verses with a continuous increase in rhythm and sound power until ending with a nice electric guitar riff.

Then comes the moment of the best track on the album, the melancholic "Grave," which continues slowly for three-quarters of the song accompanied only by the piano until the beautiful finale where violin and female voice join the singer's voice to close the piece in a truly moving way.

Next is "Torino," another song already heard around the web long before the album release, here too we find very sweet, almost whispered singing that further lowers halfway through the track to make way first for a harmonica solo in Canali style (probably he's behind it), then for Andrea's guitar which closes the song with great energy.

The following track is the most energetic and rock of the album, but unfortunately also the least convincing and the only one to have a classic verse + chorus structure. A song that doesn't bond much with the rest of the group's work and which could have been easily omitted.

"Tremore #3" is a very raw song; it starts slow with vocals that again recall Giorgio Canali and then ends with the constant repetition of two verses screamed with anger over a bed of distorted guitars.

The next "Milano" is probably the most easy-listening track of this "Roma, Guanti e Argento," a song very much in the Vasco Brondi style both in lyrics and melody, sweet and delicate supported by piano and classical guitar until the crescendo finale accompanied by violin and guitars that electrify and increase in intensity.

"Tremore #2" is the penultimate track. The pace picks up again, but this time successfully; in this track, we find the second verse entirely sung by the female voice and another harmonica solo, until the instrumental finale that reaches the rockiest point of the album.

"La Mia città è morta" closes the album, another song that frankly doesn't say much and gives a sense of incompleteness. The only note to highlight is Canali's screams in the background, a track that leaves a bitter taste and unworthily closes an album that had maintained a really high quality level throughout its duration.

In conclusion, this "Roma, guanti e argento" is an excellent debut album, musically well-made, well-sung with very poetic lyrics often hard to understand (which is not a defect at all). The quality is always excellent, except for a couple of episodes, and the final result is a compact album, with a well-defined style that can be appreciated more with each new listen.

As they say in these cases... Bravo the first time!