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Rating: Attending a Strana Officina concert is not an everyday affair. The Tuscan ensemble, active intermittently since the seventies and permanently back from 2006, follows a very specific policy in this regard, namely to do few but quality concerts, only when the essential conditions are present to perform at their best. The same goes, of course, for their records: a heavyweight history like theirs deserves respect, primarily from those who have been part of it, so each publication must take into account excellent quality standards and a brand that inevitably needs to be preserved.
Since the reunion at Gods of Metal 2006, albums like "The Faith" and "Rising to the Call" have managed to introduce the new generations to a name as historical as it was, until a few years ago, unknown to many. When a group of such stature proposes itself again, for various reasons, with line-ups far from the original one, most of the time it's met with skepticism, questioning the sense of invoking such an important name when many of those who were part of it are no longer around. In this case, frankly, things are a little different: that 1993 accident, of which the twentieth anniversary has recently passed, took away talents like Fabio and Roberto Cappanera and was as disastrous as it was unexpected, abruptly ending a story that still had much to tell.
Strana Officina, today as in the past, is a perfect concert machine, people born to be on stage. The Festa Bikers in Cologno al Serio was a great opportunity to see one of the best bands this country has produced live again. After the brief performance by the Ruler, the evening's opening act, the stage was all theirs. Passion, sweat, the desire to be there and to still believe in it. A quartet that has long been closely knit, never a note out of place, but at the same time a driving force that few, inside and outside national borders, can boast to show. Bud is the usual stage master, an authentic institution of the most fervent and heartfelt Italian metal, while Enzo Mascolo is one of the best bass players the genre can count on: precise, with a clear and powerful sound, he forms, along with Rolando Cappanera on drums, one of the most well-oiled rhythm sections in national rock'n'roll. Dario Cappanera, for his part, simply does what he knows how to do best, flooding the audience with a cascade of notes, a clear sign that guitar technique does not necessarily mean solos for their own sake or cold executions of impossible scores. The setlist? For an hour and a half, all the classics, both old and new, are faithfully reprised, with "Boogeyman", "Pyramid", and "Beat the Hammer" showing that the Strana of the 2000s is not and does not want to be a faded copy of that of the iconic 1980s, even if, of course, tracks like "King Troll" and "The Ritual" cannot be missed.
A different story, though, for the tracks in Italian, always preferred by the audience and Strana Officina themselves: "Sole Mare Cuore", "Profumo di Puttana", "Officina", "Non sei Normale", up to the moving "Autostrada dei Sogni", always dedicated to the memory of Fabio and Roberto, without naturally forgetting a figure like that of Marcellino Masi. An intense and emotional hour and a half, unfortunately rare, given, as mentioned earlier, the policy of limiting their performances to very precise and selected contexts. A lot of satisfaction and joy in the end, both above and below the stage, and a large and participative audience, hoping not to have to wait too long to see such shows again in these parts.
In short, one of the best concerts of recent years. If they're performing not too far from your home, go see them immediately; missing them would indeed be a shame.
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