Evil Cosby - "Ridursi al Niente" (Slaughterhouse Records, 2017)

Band: Evil Cosby
Title: Ridursi al Niente
Genre: Sludge/HC Punk
Year: 13th April 2017
Time: 16 min
Rating: 73/100













When Evil Cosby contacted me one month ago to review their new EP "Ridursi al niente" ("reduce yourself to nothing"), their moniker sounded strange for me because I thought already it cited the known US comic actor Bill Cosby. This impression of mine was confirmed immediately by the funny intro of the EP in which there is even a sketch taken from an episode of the TV sitcom "The Cosby Show", known in Italy as "I Robinson" (Italian for "The Robinsons" because the original surname "Huxtable" was considered unpronounceable for the Italian market). But if this isn't enough, the mascotte of the band is an hallucinated Bill Cosby that wear a makeup worthy of a Black Witchery's member! All this is very funny and parodistic but Evil Cosby, a duo from Milan (Lombardy) that released only the demo "Belzecult" and a split with the Mexicans Bala Fria (both in 2016) before to publish "Ridursi al Niente", has nothing in common with the parody as regards the music and lyrics, as you will soon.


Meanwhile, you have to know that the line-up of Evil Cosby is a bit strange. In fact, we are talking about a duo WITHOUT a guitarist (yes, you read very well!) because they are only composed of the drummer Cabron and the gentlewoman singer/bassplayer La Fez. Both also sings but no one of them have a precise vocal style considering that both grunts, screams and sings in clean according to their needs.

Since this particular line-up, the music played is particular too. In fact, the 10 songs of "Ridursi al Niente" show an interesting mix between sludge metal and punk/HC with the (ultra)-distorted bass that is the absolute protagonist because it give to the entire music a raw, smokey and stoned atmosphere, even stronger in songs like the half-instrumental "Belial" where there are also a very '70s riffing. So, Evil Cosby play 1-2 minutes' songs where the listeners can be crushed by slow tempos also on tom-toms (like in the haunting "Sconosciuto" - "unknown"), noisy groovy tempos à la Venom (especially in "Fede" - "faith"), (few) punk/HC assaults ("Strade di sangue" - "streets of blood", for example) while, here and there, there are very short and abrupt blast-beats explosions, as you can hear in "Toccato il fondo" ("hit rock bottom") and in the conclusive "Evil Cosby" (that is a pachydermatous march in almost its time composed of only 50 seconds of torment).

All this is played without forgetting the fundamental performance of Cabron thanks to his imaginative patterns able also to move the listeners' ass due to an irresistible groove, especially in "La Mujer Sin Miedo". Then, some riffs by La Fez are truly amazing, and I have to mention, at least, the main riff of "A.L.A.G." (an acronym for what???).

As for the lyrics, they are very serious and angry also because are about feminist themes both in "La Mujer Sin Miedo" ("sung", with the support of some gang choruses so to cover his moments of silence, by the late Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano) and in "Figlia del Peccato" ("daughter of sin"), a song violently against the religion considered hypocrite due to its sexism. Another anti-religion track is the raging and deicide "Fede" (the only number of the EP yet released in the past productions of the band), curiously sung in Spanish and in Italian. Other interesting songs to mention are "Toccato il Fondo" (about a suicidal man that kill himself "not by drugs but on the bed" with a knife) and "Sconosciuto" (that has verses like "I am lonely, abandoned"/ I don't know who gave the life to me"). Finally, in "Belial" and "Evil Cosby" are pronounced only the title of the songs and stop.

In brief, we are in presence of a band that show very good ideas surprising the listeners in every track, despite Evil Cosby are only two musicians without a guitarist, so I am very curious for the their future productions. This good result is due also to an evil and smokey atmosphere able to possess you immediately for a strange and lethal combination between Electric Wizard, Fresh Blueberry Pancake, Venom and Infest in a mix apparently impossible to play. So, if you like the raw but almost experimental stuff, buy the tape of "Ridursi al Niente", released two months ago by the Milan-based label Slaughterhouse Records (yet known on these pages with "Triratna" of Rejekts)!

Tracklist:

1 - Strade di Sangue
2 - Belial
3 - Toccato il Fondo
4 - Sconosciuto
5 - Nightstalker
6 - A.L.A.G.
7 - La Mujer Sin Miedo
8 - Figlia del Peccato
9 - Fede
10 - Evil Cosby

Line-up:

La Fez - vocals/bass
Cabron - vocals/drums

BandCamp: https://evilcosby.bandcamp.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/evilcosby/
Slaughterhouse Records: https://www.facebook.com/slaughterhouserec