Review : Zona d’Ombra – Tensioni e Distanze

Music for living bodies and burning hearts

As announced by Zona d’Ombra in their media, this album is anachronistic, out of this hectic and confused time. 13 tracks, a little bit more than half an hour of excellent hardcore, 35 minutes of music and thoughts. 13 tracks to consume, lyrics that need to be read many times, lyrics that tell us stories, stories to live.
The album starts with “Nel Fango” (In The Mud), 4 chords, tupa tupa tupa and we are in the middle of an HC storm that will lead us until the end of the record. Kanz’s voice is precise, clear, full of rage, guitar and bass lines are filled with energy. The band doesn’t miss a beat. First track, first story, a story of wandering souls, people on the run. This is a main topic of the album, a topic that matters to all of us: the ones that are running away from a war “in a sea that is no man’s land, dreams with a high price” (Naufraghi del Mondo – World’s castaways), the ones that are escaping from hated suburbs: “we answer to the metropolis by losing ourselves and meeting again, in new islands liberated by our whale hearts” (Orizzonte Vanessa – Vanessa horizon).
The album goes on smoothly, fast paced. “Tensioni e distanze” (Tensions and distances) is not just a title, but a common thread, within the lyrics there is a clear tension toward revolt, an invitation to fight: “from an empty hourglass our stormy rage rises” (Distanze – Distances), “the cold that they don’t feel is the spark that ignites you, incomplete mosaic of your conscience” (Tensioni- Tensions).
“Da angoli bui” (From dark corners) represents the connection between this research for redemption and punk culture, this track tells us a story that could be a little bit a part of our personal stories: “ I hated Padania, I loved its fog banks […] and then punk made my life better, the criticism and the rage of hardcore, when sounds and words are useful to understand each other, when a microphone, held by many hands, works to unite us”. Nothing to add.
An anachronistic album, an album that cannot be missed and to be listened  over and over again.

Review by Max