Review: Skassamenti – Danver

Skassamenti and their journey, suspended between reality and dream

“Danver” is the title of the first studio album by Skassamenti, a quartet from Reggio Calabria founded in 2008, with already a demo and the live CD “Non provare a spegnerci”.
Danver is the imaginary city to which the protagonist of the movie “Interstate 60” is driving to. At a crossroads in his life, he takes an equally non-existent road in a journey in search of himself, assisted by a strange character who can grant wishes.
The 12 tracks of the album, with their intimate lyrics, take their cue from the topics of the film accompanying the initiatory path of the protagonist, suspended between an unsatisfactory reality, doubts, paranoia, and the search for fulfilling his dreams.
Musically it’s a very varied album, which tries to escape the definitions of genre ranging from a bizarre ska-punk without wind section and an energetic punk rock that at times goes up to melodic hardcore (with the adrenaline peak of “Tra fango e merda”).
The common thread with the tracks seems to be a continuous dualism, symbolized by the name of the road that leads to Danver: Interstate, between two States, between two states. The two voices play to clash, to escape, to chase each other, and the rhythmic guitar seems to want to hold back with its ska rigor the sudden escapes of the solo guitar (as in – lo and behold – “Dilemma”). A dualism that is also reflected in the lyrics, suspended between reality and dream, distrust and optimism, rationality and fantasy: “Camminerò in equilibrio su quel filo che mi porterà a sorvolare tra follia e normalità” (“I will walk in balance on that thread that will lead me to fly over between madness and normality”) (“L’equilibrista”).

Tracklist:
1. Trascurabili
2. Se vuoi puoi
3. Paranoia
4. L’inizio della terza via
5. Davvero non saprei
6. Samsara
7. Sopravviverò
8. L’equilibrista
9. Tra fango e merda
10. Errore anziano
11. Dilemma
12. Puzzle

Reviewed and translated by Elvira Cuomo