Punkreas
Falso

Although distant from the raw music of their beginnings, Punkreas continue their protest journey against society. Social themes mixed with embarrassing banalities, classic ska punk blended with new musical challenges.

How much rain has fallen on the streets since that distant 1989, when Milan's Punkreas released one of the most interesting punk products of the time on the Atomo Records label. The angry hits of "Isterico" and "United rumors of Punkreas" are now a distant memory.

Today the band, under the wing of major label Universal, has abandoned the roughness of "No cops" and "Anarchico" to move towards a less harsh and perhaps more mature melody. The group from Parabiago, in the Milanese outskirts, has published a sixth album that is certainly more bizarre and varied than all the previous chapters: until "Pelle", an album capable of quickly widening the band’s audience, each work by Cippa and company alternated tracks of punk rock structure with others of pure ska core, with "Falso" unexpected reggae, Latin, and power-rap rhythms are added.

This latest work, as the authors themselves admit, is a mature result of the apprenticeship the group had to undergo for years to manage to reach important music festivals like Independent Day, Vans Warped Tour, and Goa Boa. The new album is a cheerful and carefree work as far as musicality is concerned and committed, polemical but at times populist concerning the proposed arguments. A sixth effort that offers new rhythms, a new drummer, but old themes and obsolete attitudes that, while legitimate, often appear as the result of simple banality. Clear examples of populist Melting Pot include "Più di voi", which, to punk rock notes, stands in favor of the working world, and the title track that rails against cloning politics. Of better craftsmanship is "Elettrosmog", an ironic and ruthless swipe against the noise pollution caused by Radio Vatican antennas, and the high-energy "WTO", inspired by the memory of Carlo Giuliani, "to not forget what happened", a furious and fierce recollection of the Genoese G8.

From a strictly musical point of view, the best songs are undoubtedly "Canapa", an apology of tetrahydrocannabinol, censored by Rai and Mtv (unsurprisingly!), and the ska of that "Mondo proibito", rich in television iconography, where "veline del potere" take on an enticing and superficial role of seduction. The Latin-flavored "Toda la noche", a dance anthem and pure fun, concludes Punkreas' latest work which will leave long-time fans unsatisfied but will surely find new followers, especially among the younger generations.