Razzapparte - Brucia!
Skinhead Sounds!/Rusty Knife Records/Strength Thru Oi! Records/Folk Beat Vendetta
Razzapparte might not be Italy’s longest running band, they are sure one of Italy’s longest running bands that remain active throughout the years, twenty of them to be more precise. To celebrate Razzapparte’s 20th anniversary a whole batch of labels, Skinhead Sounds!, Rusty Knife Records, Strength Thru Oi! Records and Folk Beat Vendetta to be more precise, released the band’s fifth CD-album “Brucia!”!
On “Brucia!” you will find six brand new songs that can definitely be labeled as some of the band’s best work to date. While this CD spins in my stereo, I took a glance at Razzapparte’s back-catalog and it surprised me that, besides the band’s debut EP “Gente Senza Poesia” and a few of their compilation contributions, none of their actual albums were ever released on vinyl and in all honesty, “Brucia!” screams to be released on vinyl!
Because I love the diversity that Razzapparte puts in their Oi! music. “Brucia!” opens up with a bang with the fast paced title track, but halfway through the song an accordion kicks in and gives it a bit of a gypsy-punk swag, while the next track “Brutta Sorte” breaks the Oi! mayhem up for a minute to bring a rap-like refrain. Small things like that (just keep that in mind, they don’t overrule the general sound of the band), make Razzapparte’s sound stand out and that is without even mentioning the massive sing-alongs throughout the whole album, the melodic brilliancy and roaring guitars of “Porsenna”, the saxophone in “Quello Che Soho” or the somber, but banging final track “L’Aldila”! The latter one being an ode to Italian film director Lucio Fulci and explains their ‘out of the box’ thinking when it comes down to song structure.
But wait, there is more! Because three bonus tracks have been added to “Brucia!” in the form of a re-recorded version of “Il Suono Della Strada” (originally of the aforementioned debut EP) and the 4 Skins cover “Chaos”, sung in their local (Viterbo) dialect and translates to “Caos”. Both versions originally appeared on the “Costruito Nella Tuscia” compilation and an additional, unreleased, ‘Oi! Mix’ of “Caos” has been added to “Brucia!” to make the nine-track tracklist complete.
“Brucia!” comes in a nice looking digipak and contains an explanation of all the Italian lyrics in English, while the CD is packed with some stunning tunes bound to thrill the fans of Italian Oi! music! A worthy release for Razzapparte’s 20th birthday!
