The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
Danza III: The Series of Unfortunate Events

If we have to talk about a band that has changed the rules of contemporary extreme music, Tony Danza is rightfully a topic of discussion. Jesse Freeland's sick creation over time has been able to mutate form without taking its eyes off the goal: f@#$ing V-I-O-L-E-N-C-E. Starting with a raw and evil first album along the lines of Dillinger, with Danza 2 the formula is refined, a completely uphill journey. But then the group experienced a shakeup with the departure of two members (this story is not new, only Odin knows how many times this band has changed members, something that makes Megadeth seem like the most concise and stable lineup ever) introducing the then-unknown guitarist Josh Travis, who literally revolutionized the already violent approach of the band, taking it to the extreme consequences with "Danza 3: Series of Unfortunate Events," adding djent and deathcore elements to the offering. Just listen to the opening blasts "Vicky Mayhem" and "Yippie Kay Yay Mother!@#$%^" to understand what river of illness we're diving into. The rest of the album is a continuous lift of pounding and incredibly tight mathcore riffs, midway between the most frantic tapping, lightning-fast tremolo picking, and infernal sweeps (a brand that makes Danza's sound unmistakable in the sea of extreme bands of that time) all alternated with bone-crushing breakdowns and hellish djent polyrhythms. The tracks that stand out the most, in my humble opinion, are "The Lost and Damned," which starts with a really well-constructed melodic opening only to alternate with spatial ups and downs, and the final "12.21.12" (the title is a guarantee), a 23-minute track that begins with a full-on djent polyrhythmic assault to then open up into a deathcore fury, break into a sidereal silence, and then restart with a powerful hardcore riff that throws us back into the sick clutches of this little gem, which in the final part flows into a very pompous moment on the brink of prog/ambient repeated to obsession with Jesse's screams urging the phrase "the truth is we are all lost," magnificently concluding everything.

This masterpiece of extreme metal was a bolt from the blue that astonished (and still amazes) many extreme metallers, understanding that there is still a long way to go to reach the point where metal becomes a genre that has said it all.

The journey of Danza ended with the next release that matures in a hyperbolic way, perfecting everything good that had been done with the album present here, creating the definitive masterpiece of Tony Danza. It's a real shame they disbanded, but above all, how certain conservative metallers haven't given the deserved credit to albums of this caliber.

9.0/10