Gli Inutili – L’Universitario Di Bologna – Review

THESE ARE ”GLI INUTILI”, A PUNK BAND WITHOUT IFS AND BUTS, A BLOW STRAIGHT TO THE FACE:
From terrorists/moralizers to journalists; how short is this step?
Consciously or unconsciously one can spread fear by just emphasizing it. We’d rather uselessly laugh about it…

This is how their label, Indiebox, introduce them (and there is nothing to argue about), since just reading the band members names gave me goosebumps; we are talking about people who made hardcore punk’s history, so it is a bit frustrating for me when it comes to review their first album. It is important to underline that the person in charge here is Ivan, frontman of the never forgotten (at least for me) Skruigners, together with his long-time friend Mattia and new members Lorenzo and Mattia on guitar and drums. After this necessary premise, it is fair to say that these guys put out a really nice record titled “L’universitario di Bologna”, a good mix between melodic rock n’ roll and strong punk rock, in which powerful riffs blend with ”new school” sounds.

In particular, the very first song (called ”Niente”), brought me right back to Skruigners concerts as soon as I listened to Ivan’s voice, which is always sharp and roaring; then we have ”In un film”, a mid-tempo track which is nice but I think there’s nothing special about it.

”Me ne sbatto” could easily have been on ”Nevermind the Bollocks” by the Sex Pistols, since Ivan’s expression on some verses is very similar to Rotten’s one back in the days; all in all it’s a good song, although I prefer a more aggressive style. Next track is called ”Gocce di sale”, which has ”Oi” choruses perfectly mixed and a truly frantic pace. Then there is, in my opinion, one of the best songs on the record ”L’inutile incompreso”, which is on the same wavelenght of the rest of the album, pure punk rock. ”Figli di…” needs no introduction, with fearless lyrics telling everybody to go fuck themselves. ”La Gabbia”, to not be confused with ”Siete La Mia Gabbia” follows the same pattern as ”29816”, with powerful bass and drums while Lorenzo’s guitar sounds as sharp as a blade. We find now ” Tutti in fila”, which is according to me the lowest point of the entire album, since it all seems like it’s something you’ve already heard before. Talking about the 4-5 last songs, I feel like they could have done much more, but I also think that it’s not easy at all for them to be a completely new band after Skruigners broke up; I’m sure that anybody who keeps loving them like I do can totally understand this.

In conclusion, I can easily claim that this is a good record and that when you listen to it this band will lead you into their sick and politically incorrect world, in which you’ll surely find most of the members musical background, so that would be natural to see this project as the genuine following of the previous one, although with a renewed approach.

Reviewed by P.A.
Translated by E.C.