Cover of Punkreas Pelle
fabbiu

• Rating:

For fans of punkreas,lovers of italian punk rock,listeners interested in political and social themes in music,punk rock enthusiasts,music critics and reviewers
 Share

THE REVIEW

Lately, I haven't been buying CDs anymore, but I've been listening to music I already know. It's about flipping through the binders with the collections of a lifetime, [from when you were a little kid until today] to realize that you have gone through various genres, that many albums you've barely listened to three times, and that the albums you loved when you were younger now you find crappy, conversely, those you didn't understand or listen to before now interest and please you more.

I've already said in a previous review that in high school, during the first two years, on the bus I used to listen to 90-93 by Punkreas, and I liked it a lot, but listening to it again recently I had a few laughs of compassion. My opinion on the group is this: "You like them as long as you're (naively) a kid with confused ideas". 90-93 is an easy, predictable album played by a group too focused on image. But 90-93 is an album from 1997, so it is an old album, and I think about the fact that the group has most likely grown and therefore improved, and then I realize I have another CD of theirs that I had completely forgotten: "Pelle" (2000). My ideas do not change, the group remains too focused on image and with too little musical interest, and above all the band mixes melodic rhythms with easy chord patterns and "nursery rhyme choruses" which mean that the songs (whether you want to or not) you learn by heart and sing and sing again. However, I cannot help but notice that in only three years, there are quite a few changes between the two albums. "Pelle" is still an album for kids, but unlike 90-93, it's not just a context of "anarchy-protest", but current events themes are treated such as education, freedom, thefts, transplants, terrorism, and various stuff.

Unfortunately, I cannot share their musical policy, which still seems too fake and forced to me, but also technically the group seems to have slightly improved; the sounds are cleaner, there are more "diversions" of rhythms, and there are small sax and/or trumpet solos and other peculiarities present. The voice has not improved, in fact, this time it sounds like a loser who can't keep up with the music and focuses too much on squeezing the stomach (the second voice, the one in the choruses, is much more beautiful). Certainly their sense of "irony" with which they attack the themes is much more developed. The album starts with "Voglio Armarmi", a fast and fun track, punk-rock style that should make you think about the American system that many envy in Italy, followed by "sosta", a true musical childishness, a terrible "Electro-trandy" nursery rhyme with "Hardcore" veins. It moves to "Sotto Esame" a song that questions the consistency of the education system, with sudden shifts from slow ska-reggae to violent and melodic punk. This is followed by "Fegato e cuore" typically punk (against organ transplants) and "Terzo Mondo", also falsely ska (this is where the trumpets are present). The remaining songs, from the second part of the CD: "Terrorismo Nato" "Cosciente" "Zingari" "Pirati" "Tolleranza Zero", are not interesting at all and all seem made with the same expired dough.

In short, is it possible that on MTV, in newspapers, on websites... they keep saying that these are "One of the most antagonistic bands on the national scene" and no one really realizes that they are a group of chronically hyped eternal teenagers?

Loading comments  slowly

Summary by Bot

The review revisits Punkreas' 2000 album Pelle with a critical eye, acknowledging some musical improvements and more mature themes compared to their earlier work, but ultimately finding the album too focused on image and simplistic compositions. While some tracks show interesting political commentary, much of the album is seen as repetitive and unoriginal. The reviewer doubts the band's lasting artistic growth, describing them as 'chronically hyped eternal teenagers.'

Tracklist Lyrics Videos

01   Voglio armarmi (02:50)

02   Sosta (03:06)

03   Sotto esame (03:36)

04   Fegato e cuore (02:50)

06   Terrorista NATO (02:24)

07   Cosciente (02:40)

08   Zingari (03:49)

09   Pirati (02:43)

10   Tolleranza zero (03:50)

Punkreas

Punkreas are an Italian punk/ska-punk band formed in 1989 in Parabiago (Milan). Known for politically charged lyrics and high-energy shows, their catalog spans hardcore-rooted beginnings to ska-inflected records like Pelle, with landmarks including Paranoia e potere and Elettrodomestico. Active continuously since the late ’80s.
10 Reviews