Zeman
Attitudine offensiva

This album is a manifesto of modern Oi!core: Antifa Football Oi!core.

The need for a profound reflection on modern antifascist culture becomes evident: the Zeman faction represents those who, bordering on culpability, remain acrid, violent, almost fanatical. Personally, I cannot avoid negatively mentioning some pro-violence anthems or certain questionable references to the DDR and the Red Brigades. However, I think not only that it’s wrong to reduce the movement to these single references, but also that it is short-sighted not to seek out the true genesis of this mentality and attempt to view it in the correct light.

At the same time, the resentment against the hippies becomes, beyond slightly anachronistic, something pushed to the extremes in the Colonna Infame Skinhead roots.

The sound is very modern, I’d say: the recording is relatively clean and the tone is extremely sharp, with vocals that differ from those carried on by Automatica Aggregazione and Güerra, sharp and incisive instead of rowdy. The songs are structured with a vivid alternation between hardcore and more elaborate moments, thus presenting Oi!core not simply as heavier Oi!, but in a stricter sense, Oi!+hardcore.

The song structure also reminded me a bit of some of the more crossover works by Anthrax; despite the excellent premises, not every track turns out great. The opening track is perhaps the best piece and needs no further additions after lines like “vecchia scuola nell'atteggiamento: colpirne uno, educarne cento!” or “i contabili sotto inchiesta, ma la classe non demorde: la rivolta non si arresta.” These are songs that leave little room for that Oi! romanticism that made Banda del Rione so great, just to name one. The short “ACAB” is not particularly exciting, while the following tracks all settle on “good,” despite the repetitiveness. The bonus tracks have a dry, enjoyable sound: “Bologna” tells the tale of the city’s political struggles in the best way possible, and “4-3-3” honors football history. “Attitudine offensiva” is the story of street football, where if you get fouled you fall onto the asphalt, not onto synthetic turf.

Despite its evident imperfections, this record remains an excellent example of modern punk, where “modern” doesn’t mean anything negative. Score: 75/100.