Galera - "Fai finta che mi ami" (Fresh Outbreak Records/Sedation Records, 2020)

Band: Galera

Title: Fai finta che mi ami

Genre: Hardcore Punk with Metal and Crust Punk influences

Time: 12.04 min

Release dates: 9th June 2020 (self-release)

                       18th September 2020 (Fresh Outbreak Records/Sedation Records)

Vote: 75/100

The story of the hardcore punk band Galera ("jail" in Italian) from Rome Caput Mundi is very tormented: born in 2012, they started their career with big enthusiasm and they had also the honour to support bands of the calibre of Napalm Death, Cripple Bastards, Anaal Nathrakh and Brujeria. But, throughout their parable, they released only 2 EPs before 2020: "Roma Isterica" in 2012 and "Sanguine" in 2015. After some years of total silence, Galera came back live in 2019 in a gig where I was present and so, took by a new energy to destroy the stages, they supported nothing else than Sick of It All. But after other time, the silence failed again on the band. Fortunately, Galera recovered their activities in 2020. In fact, they were reborn like a phoenix since they are now a one-man band directed by their guitarist Roberto, that recorded alone everything for their new EP "Fai finta che mi ami", initially self-released on CD in June 2020 and then edited on tape in September by the Italian labels Fresh Outbreak Records and Sedation Records. Do you know what I say? Fuck, Roberto did very well to roll up his sleeves because projects like Galera deserve to continue to annihilate ears, and soon I'll explain why!

"Fai finta che mi ami" ("pretend to love me" in Italian) is a 5-track work that is a very gloomy evolution of the Galera's sound expressed in "Sanguine". This because it shows a fukken sick, dissonant, dark, fast and modern hardcore punk with metal influences and crust punk hints here and there with the addition of mangled screams singing in Italian and with no guitar solos in any case. Unfortunately, the drums played by Roberto aren't real because they are a drum-machine and, even though they have been programmed well, I think Galera need a human drummer so to make more "alive" their music.

Doing a track-by-track, the opening "Boia" set the sound of these new Galera. After that, "Tenebra" is really gloomy also thanks to some riffs a bit close to black metal but having even some groovy tempos. The following "Strilla ancora" contains an outstanding slow and nightmarish passage, and lyrically it is very interesting because it expresses the unbreakable impulse to play this music despite you are destined to never make it big. The fourth song is "S'accabadora" (after a masked woman in dark clothes that, in according to the Sardinian folklore, kills the dying men on their deathbed), a hypnotic tune in mid-tempo. Finally, the EP is closed by the same titletrack, a sort of atmospheric and acoustic outro.

Now that I explained you (almost) all about "Fai finta che mi ami", it shows a very peculiar hardcore punk, also because there aren't other bands having a similar sound in Rome. In fact, Galera plays with violence, darkness, a modernist touch and with existential themes... and without forgetting a sane dose of total madness, as exemplified even by the promotional video of "Boia", that I featured in "Come on, burn my ears! #11". Maybe the music of Galera need not only a human drummer but also guitar solos so to offer more dynamics. Anyway, "Fai finta che mi ami", whose song "Strilla ancora" was included in the "Se beccamo ner pit!" LazioHC compilation, remains a notable work!

Tracklist:

1 - Boia

2 - Tenebra

3 - Strilla ancora

4 - S'accabadora

5 - Fai finta che mi ami

Line-up:

Roberto - vocals/guitars/bass/drum-machine

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

BandCamp: https://galera1.bandcamp.com/

Fresh Outbreak Records: https://www.facebook.com/freshoutbreakrecords/

Sedation Records: https://www.facebook.com/vondedanger/