Now, this band was refreshing to listen to. Smugly Ugly are from New Jersey area and this is their debut album. This one contains eight songs of interesting music. It all sometimes sounds like noise punk with Sonic Youth influences for example in ‘Smugly Ugly’. Also there are brass instruments like trumpet, trombone, saxophone and also keyboards delivering melodic favorites and hits like my favorite ‘One Last Chance’. But, that is not all, ‘Feeling Gr8’ delivers pop punk like it was played in early 2000s with all those bands like Blink 182 and similar came out with their best music. This is a short album but so varied and interesting to listen to that you just got to spin it one more time or two times in order two catch all what you missed.
Totenwagen is another proof of diversitiy and beauty of Italian undeground scene.
Hailing from the city of Naples, this is their third recording that came out in the end of January on the newly formed Herbivorous records. This trio plays avantguarde darkened punk hardcore. There is almost no guitar in the song structures, only distorted bass, drums and keyboards. The lyrics are in English, German, Italian and Naples dialect of Italian. I love the atmosphere of this band s music because it is so dark and gritty, added by harsh vocals and almost crusty d-beat drumming on some songs(“Nocturno punk”). This band has some great degree of originality and I would love to see them play the stuff live. The ominous keyboard element only add to the dense and almost foggy wet atmosphere of the songs and in some weird way remind me of early Goblin songs in the Dario Argento horror movie masterpieces. I loved the renaissance parts mixed with spaghetti western in the instrumental song “Nduvosck”. Needless to say that these keyboards add great deal of melodies instead of guitar and are in fact the main lines of the songs themselves. This is unusual but great punk and I am really glad that I discovered yet another gem in the dark crown of the underground music scene.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 