so also 2019 has died and another year (and another decade) has opened its gates. I don't know how 2020 will be but, for sure, I can say that 2019 has been a really important year for Timpani allo Spiedo since the 'zine grown up a lot during these last 12 months.
Firstly, the 'zine received plenty of news/reviews requests like never before, so I started to collaborate with a new list of bands/labels/promoters while the relationship with the older ones has become stronger (as about the continuative collaborations, see the "Partners in Crime"' section). And, considering that the requests are really too many, I opened this year a column called "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss", in which I briefly tell about two or more bands in a single article.
Secondly, Timpani allo Spiedo is now a bit "professional" because I introduced the Google AdSense announcements on the 'zine, in the distant hope I could be rich with the shit I am used to publish here. Yeah, "in the distant hope" is the perfect expression...
Thirdly, an important feature I added in 2019 has been the Timpani allo Spiedo's playlist called "Come on, burn my ears!". With it, I present you my readers a monthly selection of 20 tracks coming from 20 different bands, ranging throughout the entire extreme spectrum covered by the 'zine, be it belonging to metal or to hardcore punk.
But the most beautiful news is that now the 'zine has a new collaborator: Marta Rose! She is coloring these putrid, metallic pages with a lot of punk rock, and the nicer thing is that she is full of initiatives (for example, the interview to Blatoidea was totally an idea of her!), so her work is really precious. Expect new tunes from her in the future days to come!
And now, even though with an incredible delay, here you are my 2019 TOP TEN, as usual in a random order! But this time there is a little innovation: you'll find also a short TOP FIVE of the 2018 releases that, for some reasons or another, I managed to listen to only in 2019.
So, enjoy all this and, above all, HAPPY NEW YEAR, brutalbangers!!!
FINAL CUT - "JACKHAMMER" (ART GATES RECORDS)
Have you ever listened to a band that mixes the most violent thrash metal you can imagine with harmonica and blues parts? Well, that band exist(ed?) and its name is (or was?) Final Cut, that this year released "Jackhammer", a surprising second album through Art Gates Records. Unfortunately, this Swiss band, able also to be a lot technical and complex, doesn't exist anymore because they split-up one month ago circa after a last concert with their former singer. For this, I thought well to include them in the third Timpani allo Spiedo's playlist... but, for the truth, many bands you'll find in this TOP TEN were included in a playlist of the 'zine!OF FIRE - "DRÄPAREN" (ART GATES RECORDS)
I don't know but it looks that the bands of Art Gates Rec have a kind of curse on them. I am saying this because two members of Of Fire recently left them, so they are now on hold. This is a real shame since "Dräparen" is a great third album in which there is basically an old-school Swedish death metal with a mega-classic chainsaw guitar sound, but this style is made more personal thanks to black metal influences and to some dark tunes, that are also determined by parts with keyboards. And speaking again about the Swedish death metal side, do you know that Thy Majesty Tomas Skögsberg produced "Dräparen" at his Sunlight Studios? GULP!TOXIK ATTACK - "ASSASSINOS EM SERIE" (HELLDPROD RECORDS)
Portugal and me have a particular connection. Apart from the fact that I love Lisbon since I visited it three years ago, (almost) every extreme metal band coming from those latitudes deserves some consideration by me and, plus, I discovered that the Portuguese maniacs aren't only amazing at spewing forth lo-fi black metal in the vein of The Black Twilight Circle! In fact, Portugal is now very strong in terms of thrash metal bands, and these Toxik Attack confirms this "trend" with their debut album "Assassinos em Serie", released by Helldprod Rec, another cool reality from this hot country. Now believe me when I say that "Assassinos em Serie" is thrash metal at its best: wild, savage and literally indomitable in its absurd fury but also incredibly various so to make curiosity in the listeners song after song. Last but not least, the vocals of Nico666 are really over the top, and they add not only a lot of craziness but also so much personality in an album that maybe, without them, could be very derivative.GRUZJA - "I iść dalej" (GODZ OV WAR PRODUCTIONS)
What can you expect from a band whose moniker means "Georgia" in Polish and whose song "Opuść mnie" was promoted through a... porno promotional video? Only a thing you can expect: THE UNEXPECTABLE! Summarizing, the style of Gruzja can be described as "Experimental Black Metal". But if you would like to going deep into this simple and vague formula, Gruzja ranges from the brutal black metal à la Marduk to a sort of doomish, haunting, disturbing, also psychedelic black metal close in some ways to Abruptum. Anyway, the only expectable thing is that Gruzja sounds, in EVERY case, gloomy and lunatic, also thanks to an extremely versatile vocal department. But wait... what can you expect from a black metal band whose debut album "I iść dalej" ends with a song full of claustrophobic techno song?RAKE-OFF - "GOIN' MENTAL" (DIY CO-PRODUCTION)
Finally it's time for some hardcore punk stuff in this list! So, it's time for the Roman quintet Rake-Off, that this year released a fantastic third album, "Goin' Mental", through a plethora of labels, included THC DIY Productions. This new album shows a more (thrash) metallic side if compared with their previous albums, and their songs are now also faster and better structured like never before. In addition, some tracks shows even a little of contagious rock'n'roll groove, and this means that your fukken asses, even when you don't want, will move spontaneously, especially when you'll attend a Rake-Off gig! Engaging!HARMDAUD - "SKÄRVOR" (ART GATES RECORDS)
The inclusion of this album in this TOP TEN is a little bizzarre. In fact, in "Skärvor" there are no real drums but a fuckin' drum-machine, and you know I hate every drum-machine with all of my heart! But, fortunately, this time I managed to overcome this "problem", and so I discovered an album in which there is a melodic black metal showing a winning combination between aggression, suggestive melodies, epicness and without forgetting a good amount of atmosphere. And if all this wasn't enough, you must know that this debut album by the one-man band Harmdaud wasn't only released by Art Gates Records but also produced by none other than Vintersong, that participated even as a guest both on vocals and on keyboards. Fuck, this is the real thing!POPIÓŁ - "ZABOBONY" (GODZ OV WAR PRODUCTIONS)
Godz ov War Productions is used to release few albums every year but, often, those "few albums" are really great! For example, "Zabobony", debut album of Popiół, deserves a lot of consideration from the maniacs in love with a melodic, melancholic and epic black metal with many folk parts and pagan themes. There is also a lot of creativity here, also because of songs able often to reach, in a sort of proggy crescendos, even the 9 minutes of lenght. But I won't tell anymore about this album (whose title stands in Polish for "ash"), so please expect to read my upcoming review about it.DEATH BY FUNGI - "DIE IN BOMBAY" (SELF-RELEASE)
In 2019 I realized that India hasn't only bands such as Tetragrammacide and Kapala but also something more, even in the hardcore punk spectrum. Like Death by Fungi. Ok, their (self-)release "Die in Bombay" isn't an album but a very short EP lasting only 8 minutes... but what a fukken EP! "Die in Bombay" is extreme and furious HC punk, and I love it already for its incredible ferocity! But if you consider that we're talking about an HC punk able to be unpredictable due to influences coming from the extreme metal, mathcore and other genres, then, I recommend you this band without any doubts! In brief, if this EP is so good, I can't imagine how much the debut album by Death by Fungi will be amazing!HUMAN AGONY - "PUTRESCENCE OF CALVARY" (INVICTUS PRODUCTIONS)
In these last years the bestial black/death metal sub-genre has been incredibly popular in the underground. As a fan of this (anti-)music since an immemorable time, I like a lot this trend but, on the other hand, every trend implies that many so-called artists simply copies and pastes with little imagination what taught with big passion by the masters. Well, this is the case for many bands but, surely, not for Human Agony! Apart from the fact that they have all the rights to play war metal since they comes from the infamous Ross Bay as their masters Blasphemy, they plays it with tremendous conviction and cruelty, as it should be, and they shows all this through their debut album "Putrescence of Calvary", released by an Irish label of the calibre of Invictus Productions. Soon or later, I think I'll visit Canada because of war metal haha!WOLFSBLOOD - "VOMIT & LICE" (REGAIN RECORDS/TROGLODYTE RECORDS)
I remember that I listened to "Vomit & Lice" by Wolfsblood in August, when I was on holidays. But when I was searching for some infos about the band, I knew that their singer, Divina, was dead on March of 2019. I think that she was a great singer, as perfectly shown in "Vomit & Lice", that spews forth a various crust punk/d-beat assault with some Discharge influences and with some heavy metal and rock'n'roll touches worthy of the best Motörhead. Rare quality stuff, but a great result of this kind was almost obvious if you think that Wolfsblood is composed of hardcore punk veterans with a past in Moderat Likvidation and other bands!TOP FIVE OF THE 2018 RELEASES LISTENED... ONE YEAR LATER:
All My Sins - "Pra Sila - Vukov Totem" (Saturnal Records)
Cripple Bastards - "La fine cresce da dentro" (Relapse Records)
Perversor - "Umbravorous" (Pulverised Records)
Prezir - "As Rats Devour Lions" (Godz ov War Productions)
Fankàz - "Burning Leaves of Empty Fawns (Overdub Recordings) (yes, it was released in 2013 but... fuck it, it's so outstanding!)
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