Category Archives: Reviews

(record review) LATTE+-Next To Ruin (Phocomelic Music)

Aaah, Italy! Country of Sun, love, excellent food and wine, but also place where one of the most prolific and great punk hardcore music scene thrives with so many great bands, albums, labels coming out every day.

Today we review the new record by LATTE+, diy produced and out with the band´s label Phocomelic Music. We can safely call this band veterans of punkrock scene in Italy, being formed in 1997. and releasing eight full length albums till now.

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The new album contains 13 new songs of melodic, no holds barred, no philosophy melodic punkrock in the vein of Ramones, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Lillingtons and similar bands. There are three chords, nice melodic vocal line, anthemic singalong choruses and the lyrics about fun, love, personal stuff and humour. My favorite songs on this album are Cookie, I Miss You and Lost In Berlin, but all of the songs are just great. Seems like nowadays no one plays this style of simple and melodic punkrock anymore, so we must treasure and cherish records like this one.  I am totally fan of Latte+ and hope to see them live one day because I think their shows are total fun and punk enjoyment!

10/10

https://www.facebook.com/lattepiupunkrock/

https://lattepiu.bandcamp.com/album/next-to-ruin

 

(record review)Edward In Venice-Empathy(Lockjaw Records)

Edward In Venice play melodic hardcore and come from Italy. I listened and reviewed for our zine their brand new record out with Lockjaw Records.

Empathy artwork

They played Punk Rock Holiday in 2016., but I missed their show due to mingling with people that are dear to me, so I knew nothing about this band until I listened to this new record. They had some line-up changes, the new guitarist entered the band and gave some fresh blood and energy to the guys. The new one is in fact an e.p. containing 7 songs. What I admire this guys about is that they don´t play your usual straight to head tupa tupa fast punk hardcore skatepunk, although there is nothing wrong with it, but they rather chose a different approach and they play smart melodic modern hardcore punk with many tempo changes, heartfelt singalong choruses and overall melodies that put smile upon your face. The lyrics are in English and as I understand, they are all personal. The vocals are somehow singing with the sensibility and emotion of pop punkrock and sometimes turn into ferocious hardcore screaming which fits really well into the song structures. I can hear both Rise Against and hardcore bands of the 90-ies implemented in the music of Edward In Venice, yet they remained themselves not the third rated copy of the above mentioned bands. Good record!

8/10

 

(record review)CASUAL NAUSEA-Demons(TNSrecords)

Casual Nausea are hardcore punk band from Ipswich, UK and this is their debut full length out with TNSrecords. I listened and reviewed the record for our zine.

cover

They are describe as Gogol Bordello meets The Restarts, but after listening to the album I would say that this is not entirely true. Although there are some folky punk fun stuff in their song structures, these guys mainly rely on good old hardcore punk, a bit on the rawer side, yet enough melodic to put that catchy melody bug in your ear when listening. The record contains 19 songs, which is a great number of songs, but the record just does not get boring in any way and passes along and leaves you wanting more after it is over. There are some faster hardcore songs made for stage diving and waving your finger and fist in the air, but there are some punkrock midtempo songs and also Crass inspired music. The lyrics are personal, also about the survival in this life, scene, diy and punk. This is a great record and I would just love to see this band play live, because I am sure they are just tons of fun live. Recommended songs: Fuck Up, Demons, Pay Your Sins Away, Til The Day I Die.

8,5/10

https://www.facebook.com/casualnausea/

https://www.facebook.com/TNSrecords/