Closed Speech - "Rookies" (Self-released, 2018)

Band: Closed Speech

Title: Rookies

Genre: Punk Rock with Melodic Hardcore Punk influences

Time: 31.40 min

Release date: 15th December 2018

Vote: 81/100

The first time that I saw on stage Closed Speech was a little strange: it was a grindcore night that they opened, even though they had absolutely nothing to do with the other bands! At that time they were working on their debut album, then self-released during the last remnants of 2018. Well, while Francesco and I were working on the "Se beccamo ner pit!" compilation focused on the LazioHC scene, I received directly from Closed Speech their debut album in order to put two tracks of in into the aforementioned compilation. After some months, I am finally going to review this debut album called "Rookies"... but, after Milksnake, also this time expect nothing belonging to the extreme metal!

In fact, "Rookies" is a 15-track album of pure '90s punk rock à la Green Day/NOFX but with some melodic hardcore punk tunes, in a similar way to another Roman punk band, The Ammonoids. Even though I am not so much into this style, there is need to say that "Rookies" surely deserves attention from the maniacs of this genre also because we are talking about a band able sometimes to offer experimental and very funny solutions, as you'll see soon. In addition, I had always a lot of fun to see on stage this three-piece band, so listening to "Rookies" has been a real pleasure!

After an intro that is nothing else than a radio tuning ranging from a "peaceful" speech of Trump against North Korea to a South American football commentary, the album starts with "Bananastate", a classic punk rock anthem that the band played also in a demented acoustic version during the Fuck Covid-19 Fest organized by Till Death.

Now, I have to say that the first part of the album has a very typical, and a bit predictable, punk rock vein, containing only few notable songs like the foul-mouthed "WTFRU" (that has very "calm" lines against - I imagine - an ex-girlfriend like... ahem... "you are just the biggest bitch"!) or "Joe Blob", strong of a fast but dramatic atmosphere. But the nicer things are into the second part of the album, starting from the raging and wild instrumental "No Words, No Name" (a title, a program!) and continuing with other very good tracks like "Tupa People" with its alcoholic gang choruses or "Same Blood", the first one with a (rockish and contagious) guitar solo. Obviously, that's not all because the best episodes are at the end of the album: I am talking about "Offenpunk", a totally crazy song that's my favorite of the entire album because it mixes punk rock, melodic hardcore punk, ska, operetta (in fact, the same songtitle is a pun with Jacques Offenbach, the inventor of the operetta), absurd choruses... and even a kazoo played by the guest Margherita Ferro! Instead, the last song, "El Dinero", is another humorous tune that is the longest one in the album thanks to its almost 4 minutes of lenght, in which acoustic sequences sung in Spanish (yes, in SPANISH!) are alternated with furious hardcore punk outbursts... but believe me that the end of this track is an even greater delirium!

So, listening to "Rookies" has been really a pleasure since this band released an album expressing a lot of imagination, especially in its second part, after many years into the ranks. In fact, we are talking about a band that released only the demo "A Place for Suckers" in 2012 before publishing this album, so I can only imagine the big enthusiasm that the band had at the time of its release; a release that was celebrated with a release party the same 15th December 2018 in a gig always organized by Till Death but, unfortunately, I couldn't be present that night. Additionally, after that gig the band released the promotional video of "Same Blood" and, about today, there is need to say that they recently came back live after a lot of time by playing at Il Giardino dei Limoni in a grindcore night (AGAIN? NOOOO!) along with Asma and Verano's Dogs. Can I say other things about the band and "Rookies"? Yes, I want to suggest to the band to be very creative like in the second part of the album and also to play more guitar solos. And now that's all, folks!

Tracklist:

1 - Intro (Radio tuning)

2 - Bananastate

3 - Disliked

4 - Write This Song

5 - WTFRU

6 - Strawberry & Chips

7 - Joe Blob

8 - No Words, No Name

9 - People

10 - Tupa People

11 - Sweet Middle

12 - Same Blood

13 - Offenpunk

14 - Dr. Shit

15 - El Dinero 

Line-up:

Mr. Frero - vocals/bass

Falcio - guitars/vocals

Micio - guitars/vocals

Fill - drums

Guests:

Margherita Ferro - kazoo on "Offenpunk"

Silvio, Ciciuz, Nick, Camilla, Ilaria, Davide, Elisa, Ippo - choruses on "Offenpunk"

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/closedspeechofficial

BandCamp: https://closedspeech.bandcamp.com/releases