Verdena
Requiem

Excuses. An avalanche of excuses. Excuse to rock, excuse to indie, excuse to grunge, excuse to stoner, excuse to Italian music. There are a thousand excuses that Verdena must (or should) offer, if not to the whole world, certainly to their proximate neighbors.

Always considered a group essentially of restless adolescents with little depth in the Italian alternative scene, Verdena is the very angry and catatonic version of the idea of the original Italian indie and not how we later interpreted it. They have never appealed to many because they have a lot of rock but not enough, or at least they personalize it a lot, they have a fair amount of grunge but not enough, or maybe too much, they challenge other alternative rock bands but in reality, there are no footholds, they constitute a uniquely distinctive sound that you recognize immediately. The truth is that Verdena lend their ears only to those who know how to listen; they are the black-and-white photograph of a greedy mountain territory in decline, that invents, recreates, gets angry, and brings out from itself everything it has, without too many formalities, without too many technicalities, apparently almost none, in reality a psycholabile form of an entirely studied whole where nothing is left to chance. The scratch is the mark left by Verdena, an insidious but at times superficial wound that perhaps does not need to be disinfected but that can sometimes cause problems, become infected, canker, if your immune defenses are low. Beware of these scratches, never underestimate them, because they are quite annoying. And they stay inside.

“Requiem” is a dark forest where a thin and melancholy mist hovers, the trees are bare, the sky is petrol green. It’s the fourth album three years after “Il suicidio dei Samurai,” and it marks the decision of the Bergamo-based band. It’s a distorted, dark sound, where a sparkling light flashes here and there, yet it’s not enough to illuminate the corners, and the album remains difficult to listen to for those who do not know them; a sound that speaks of Verdena to those who know Verdena, newcomers would probably be left out of the party. “Requiem” certainly marks a leap compared to “Valvonauta” in terms of sound quality, research, references, the world recreated by the trio: “Don Calisto” presents compulsive rock that stands at the entrance of this incredible, famished, twisted, disturbed world, it repeats in “Non prendere l’Acme Eugenio,” a nod to “Careful with that axe, Eugene.” Some breadcrumbs to find the lost path: “Angie,” “Trovami un modo semplice per uscirne.” Exactly.

Verdena is an aggressive and powerful sound: every time they come up with something new, they break down a door that wasn't there before. Sure, they ghettoize themselves a lot, but it’s the spirit of mountain people; if you don’t go to Verdena, however, they won’t come to you.