Marci su Roma Fest (Rome, 3rd November 2018)

Festival name: Marci su Roma
Date: 3rd November 2018
Location: Trecentosessanta Gradi, Rome
Price: 6 €






The day after the doom metal night with Abysmal Grief, I changed completely musical genre in order to destroy my ears (AND MY BONES!) with a HC punk festival called "Marci su Roma", that was taken at the Trecentosessanta Gradi punk pub (also simply known as 360) in the area of Rome known as San Lorenzo. The occasion was very good for every HC maniac worthy of this name since 9 Italian bands (coming from Central to North Italy) were in the bill to offer a festival destined to last a lot of hours (a tenth band called Social Trauma was supposed to play but they didn't play). So, many people from every corner of the Nation came in my city, and I must say already that this festival has been fantastic also since it gave to all of us the impression of a Italian HC scene very united and full of solidarity. This also because, in these days, San Lorenzo, a historically antifascist area, is living a very critical socio-political period, as many of you knows. Without explaining the reasons, in San Lorenzo the atmosphere was (and still is) very hot, and it isn't a case if the slogan of the festival was "Gli unici stranieri: fasci e sbirri nei quartieri" ("the only foreigners: fascists and cops in the blocks"). Ended the description of the contextual conditions, it's time now to see who's who (Conflict, anyone?)!

Abysmal Grief/Night Gaunt/Suum (Rome, 2nd November 2018)

Bands: Abysmal Grief/Night Gaunt/Suum
Location: Defrag, Rome
Date: 2nd November 2018
Price: 7 €






On 2nd November 2018, at the cultural association called Defrag, there was a fantastic night in the sign of doom metal, with headliner a band of the calibre of Abysmal Grief that, as I hope you know, is recently promoting their last album "Blasphema Secta" (Terror from Hell Records, 2018). To support them, there were 2 very good bands from Rome, that offer two different but always effective ways to face this kind of metal: Suum and Night Gaunt.

Panico al Miedo - "Formador" (Symbol of Domination Prod/United by Chaos, 2018)

Band: Panico al Miedo
Title: Formador
Genre: Mid-tempo Thrash Metal with Death and Groove Metal influences
Time: 53.10 min
Release Date: 27th April 2018
Rating: 57/100












Recording and mixing by Juan Urteaga (already at work with bands of the calibre of Vile, Testament, Machine Head etc...), mastering by Jens Bogren (famous for his collaborations with Opeth, Amon Amarth, Paradise Lost etc...), a fantastic cover artwork full of absurd characters by nothing else than Ed J. Repka (do you know who he is or do you need an embarrassing refresh?), and the participation of some illustrious guitarplayers like James Murphy and Bobby Koelble, both ex-Death members. What an ambitious debut album for this Spanish quartet called Panico al Miedo! Is all this enough for a metal masterpiece? Not exactly...

Nova Era Booking: the birth of a new Italian booking agency + two bands sign with it!

5th November 2018 see the birth of a new Italian booking agency!

MuD - "The Sound of the Province" (THC DIY Productions, 2017)

Band: MuD
Title: The Sound of the Province
Genre: Hardcore Punk with Thrash Metal influences
Time: 22.16 min
Release Date: 11th November 2017
Rating: 89/100












After attending yesterday a fantastic doom metal night with the legendary Abysmal Grief as headliners (expect a nice live report about it in the next days to come!), today you'll read a very enthusiastic article about the third album by MuD! It was released by their label THC DIY Productions along with other many label like Italian Thrash Attack, a kind of cooperation usual for the HC punk albums. But what's more interesting is that Mauro Garbati (also known as AldoHC) sent me a pack with included not only the physical CD version of the album but also the stickers of the band along with the last issue (the 13th one, exactly, released in March 2011) of "10 anni di mucchi selvaggi e ossa rotte in Italia" (Italian for "10 years of  wild bunches and broken bones in Italy"). This was a well-written fanzine edited by the guys of the website lovehate80.it and focused on the '80s Italian hardcore punk whose issues had te only problem to be tooo short (only 4 pages) but, at least, the contents were really cool (the issue in my hands contains an interview to Indigesti).

Last Rites - "Nemesis" (MASD Records, 2017)

Band: Last Rites
Title: Nemesis
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Release Date: 23rd December 2017
Time: 32.43 min
Rating: 88/100













What can I suggest you today that is the day of the dead, otherwise known as Halloween? LAST RITES! Write this name down because we're taling about a veteran Italian band that realized an outstanding fourth album named "Nemesis"! Hailing from Savona, Ligury (North Italy), Last Rites started their path in 1997, so "Nemesis" represent a special release for the band because, through it, they celebrated their 20th anniversary. For this, you'll find, on two pages of the nice booklet of this album, some pics (also on stage) that cover the career of the band from the early days to the recent ones. In this range of time, the band has been always strongly leaded by the singer/guitarist Dave, the only current member remained of the original line-up. Another interesting thing to underline is that "Nemesis" has been dedicated to the memory of Vic Mazzoni, a talented metal musician died in 2016 at the age of 42 years old. Now, let's start to talk about this memorable piece of metal!