Rollerball
Outlast The Game

Among the various Italian Metal groups that found good success in the '80s and ignited high hopes were the Tuscan band Rollerball, a group that, according to Enrico Dell'Omo, the historic organizer of the mythical Certaldo festival in 1983 and also their manager, had a lot of talent and originality to sell but at the same time an inexplicable laziness and a great desire to achieve fame, an element that later led to the end of the group.

The Florentine combo, which took its name from the deadly sport practiced in the 1975 science fiction film of the same name by Norman Jewison, was composed of Maxx Bell (the only one from Parma) on vocals and keyboards, Fabrizio Ricciardelli on guitar, Jacopo "Jey Key" Braccesi on bass, and Peter Pirri on drums, a well-combined lineup that could have given numerous satisfactions in the future if it had the strength to stay united and continue on its path. But let's go in order: in 1984, Rollerball, fresh from a memorable performance at Certaldo, were at the peak of their success in the Peninsula's Metal scene, and it was that year that the band recorded the song "Wild Town" for the compilation "H M Eruption" and released the beautiful EP "Outlast The Game," a pure Heavy Metal record: don't expect to find a single gram of Hard Rock among the four tracks offered here, as was usual for many tricolor groups of the time.

The EP opens with "Prelude," an organ intro that is none other than the well-known "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" by Bach, as a tribute not only to the great composer but also to the soundtrack of Jewison's film that gave the band its name. The subsequent "Rollerball" actually begins with a very fast guitar solo that reprises the theme of Bach's work and immediately showcases all the qualities of the group: speed, power, and above all, a great deal of feeling, a lot of passion, with an excellent performance from all the members and particularly from the singer Bell, comparable in vocal abilities even (sacrilege!) to the great Rob "Metal God" Halford, especially in the final gallop. The same can be said for the third track, "Do You Know Alan," but it is, in my opinion, with the concluding "Escape" that the true peak of the EP is reached: introduced by an extremely emotional keyboard, the song unfolds through typically NWOBHM riffs, with a solo full of passion that perfectly renders the group's attitude up to that point, as well as the stunning performance of Maxx Bell. An EP that has no weak points, except in the sound, a result due to the scarcity of resources available.

And then, you might ask, what happened to Rollerball after "Outlast The Game"? The epilogue of the story is somewhat sad and thought-provoking: discouraged by the situation of the Italian HM scene, with its chronic lack of resources and support from record labels, and seduced by the prospects of fame and profit opened up by their new manager, the four turned towards a more "easy listening" genre, only to disband at the end of the '80s. Probably if they had been more consistent, they would have become real myths of Italian Metal, alongside Strana Officina and Vanexa, but we know, talking about it now is useless, it would have been better if someone had given them a chance at that time. Few testimonies of them remain, and this beautiful EP, which for me anyway is more than enough to make them enter the legend.