Review: Serpe – Re dei Serpenti

Serp ’em all!

From Tuscany  another hardcore band comes crowling out! Serpe are a relatively new band, despite the fact that some members are in other bands too, i.e. Ivan (Carlos Dunga, xDeloreanx, Iena, Destinazione Finale and many more) and Andrea (Loia) and they’re managing to schedule their very first euro tour to promote this first album, so stay tuned ‘cause they may hit your town soon!
The front cover and the graphics by Coito Negato take inspiration from the medieval miniatures art and perfectly fit in with the songs titles, leading us into a gloomy and evocative atmosphere, and the same feeling comes out reading the lyrics, all sung in Italian – a not so-common choice in these times-.
Musically, Serpe really do not go for the subtle, nothing but pure and solid hardcore punk, that enroots deeply in the typical Italian underground sound. It’s easy to notice the influence of bands like the latest Wretched (la tua morte non aspetta/in controluce era) or the most recent raw punk sound, that has been fertile ground for tons of new bands in the last years. Like the hours of the day, between hatred, frustration and nothingness. All this needs an outburst, and here it pours down in those 6 fragments of sound fury. “No half-measures, no mediations” someone  used to tell me for  his lyrics, and that fits perfectly: no filters, no preambles, just hard-fuckin-core, period. Do you like it? Fine. Don’t like it? Right on, fuck you. Everything is even better when you notice out that the whole record has been recorded, mixed and mastered in the good old nEXT Emerson, one of the best squats in Italy, by the almighty Alex Rossi (Hill Valley Studio). Maybe you don’t care about stuff like this, but I do, so what?
You can shit on your hands and slap yourself.

Rash