If you loved the first two albums of I Ministri, Borderline is the band for you. In addition to the obvious similarity between the voices of the two vocalists, our quartet, just like the Milanese band, skillfully mixes the hardest and most distorted rock with pleasant melodic parentheses.
Formed in 2005, they have recently entrusted themselves to the successful author of Mamamù Festival and Ludovico Van Festival, the independent label Subcava Sonora, which supports them in making their debut EP Drinking Fire short duration (5 tracks for a total of about 13 minutes) but dense and intense.
Borderline take us to the stage with the opening track Soundcheck. All musicians, I'm sure, will understand the irony. It is a song dedicated to stage engineers, who are sometimes deaf to the needs of the band. Nuncio that hits very hard on snare and kick drum e Angelo, elbowing between the deafening duet of guitar and bass, forced to scream to be able to hear himself in the spy, perfectly tell the sense of frustration that leads to anger, politely resized by sweet arpeggios that accompany the gentle attempt to communicate with the man behind the mixer .
[One_third]
With I jump the band is out of the cage of the Italian alternative. Listening to the constant tempo changes of this second track, we are all in California in the 90's at a suggestive concert in the Kyuss desert and the like. The low frequencies of the guitars dropped by a semitone and the retro psychedelia of the deep tremolo of this doom metal are in perfect line with what seems to be a sort of revival of stoner rock, especially in the bell scene.
It is still a period of swimming in the sea, bonfire schitarrate, Festivalbar (does it still exist?) With its catchy tunes that take root in the ear canals for all 3 months of sunshine. And so going to the beach you could easily find yourself humming Summer which, without renouncing the omnipresent distortion and the scratchy voice of Angelo, recalls the adolescent lightness of the Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti by Mostri e Normali.
Borderline immediately withdraw and retract their unexpected pop side. Verse and chorus is the most suitable piece to do it. As can already be deduced from the title, it is a song first of all on the banality of a certain type of music, that of the protagonist of the video clip that can be viewed on youtube , the frontman of the successful pop group called "The balls" (these guys are not lost in superfluous Frenchisms). But it is also a song about the difficulty of breaking the mold in any musical genre. In fact, the verse, marked by the classic power chord in palm mute, is followed by the screeching and noisy chorus in full metal style. Nothing new. But it is a voluntary discount, a sort of demonstration that, knowing certain rules, it is really easy to write a song. After all, as the text states, “classic is more beautiful”.
The final trace Beyond the norm has more of a rock ballad sound. After having "drunk the fire" of the violent verse and chorus, the melody returns, the one that brings you in the charts together with Lost and Negramaro, even against your will. Maybe that soft rock from video rotation on MTV isn't something that belongs to Borderline more than they want to admit to themselves? We await a denial in the future (or a confirmation, who knows…), perhaps with a work a little more organic than the colorful EP, in which it is still not clear "what you want to do when you grow up". The recording and mastering work of The Studio Casetta it's flawless. The essentiality of the dry sounds, without exaggerating with reverbs, chorus and other effects from pure distortion, makes it all a bit too compressed but we like it that way.
A final note must certainly be dedicated to an important legal choice, that is to rely on an "open-source" label like Subcava Sonora, giving up the classic copyright to make room for the more "democratic" copyleft. The EP is in fact listenable and downloadable for free on Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/it/album/82794) and it is also legally allowed to share it with anyone you want, the important thing is that you do not use it for purposes commercial. This is not the place to dwell on Creative Commons licenses (CC) but it is a topic that I recommend to explore, especially if you are a musician and are really tired of the absolute monopoly of SIAE.
BORDERLINE - Drink fire
Produced by: Subcava Sonora
TRACKLIST:
1 soundcheck
2 I jump
3 Summer
4 Verse and chorus
5 Beyond the norm
Duration: 13:29
Borderlines are:
Voice and guitar: Kind Angel
Guitar: Anthony Ricciardi
Bass: Fulvius Cirace
Battery: Nuncio Garofalo
Official Website: http://www.berefuoco.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/borderlineproject
If you have been loving the first two albums by the I Ministri, Borderline is the band that matches your taste. Besides the clear resemblance between the two vocalists' voices, our home-bred quartet, exactly as the band from Milan did, mixes the hardest and distorted rock with enjoyable digressions in melody.
Formed in 2005, they have been relying themselves on the independent label Subcava Sonora, author of the success of the Mamamù Festival and Ludovico Van Festival, which supports them producing the short but deep and intense debut EP “Bere Fuoco” (5 tracks for a total of 13 minutes running time).
Borderline takes us to the stage with the opening track “Soundcheck”. Every musician, I am sure about this, will get the ironic message. It's dedicated to the stage audio engineer crew, sometimes deaf about the bands' demands. Nunzio going down heavy on the drum and Angelo, trying to find his way through the ear-splitting duet between guitar and bass, forced to scream to hear himself through the monitor, perfectly depicting the sense of frustration which grows and turns into anger, politely cool down by some sweet arpeggios to accompany the gentle attempt in communicating with the man behind the mixer.
[One_third]
With “I Jump"(I Jump) the band got out of the cage of the Italian alternative music. Listening to the frequent tempo changes within this second track, we all get back to the 90's at an evocative concert in the Kyuss desert and the like in California. The low frequencies of the guitar tuned half step down and the old fashion psychedelia in the deep tremolo of this metal doom are perfectly matching what it seems to be some sort of stoner rock revival, especially for the scenario in Campania.
It's still time for a bath in the sea, bonfire guitar sounds, Festivalbar (is it still on?) with its catchy tunes to get stuck to our ear passages all the 3 sunny months long. So while going to the beach you could easily find yourself humming to "Summer” (Summer) which, without giving up to the ever-present distortion and to Angelo's scratching voice, reminds us of the adolescent lightness of the “Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti” 's in “Monstri e Normali”.
Borderline immediately take back and step off from this unexpected pop side of theirs. “Verse and chorus” is the most suitable to do it. As one can understand by the title itself, it is a track about the banality of some kind of music, as in this case the one of the main character of the video you can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0kcv_8bHEQ, that is the frontman for the successful pop group called “Le Palle” (The Balls – These guys don't lose themselves in unnecessary French words). But it is also a song about how hard crossing boundaries is in terms of music genres. In fact right after the verse, marked by the typical power chord in palm mute, the screamed and noisy chorus comes in in full metal style. But that's a chosen predictability, some sort of way to demonstrate that, acknowledging some rules, a song is very easy to write.
The closing track “Beyond the norm"(Beyond the rule) has more of a rock ballad sound to it. After being "drinking fire" of the violence "Verse and chorus"(Verse and chorus), the melody comes back, the kind that makes it on the charts alongside with Lost and Negramaro, whether you want it or not. Isn't it that soft rock as the one in video rotation on MTV belongs to Borderline more than they would admit to themselves? We'll be waiting to prove us wrong (or right, who knows..), perhaps with a more homogeneous work than the multicolored EP which doesn't really let us understand "what they want to do when they grow up". The recording and mastering work by The Studio Casetta it is impeccable. The dry sounds essentiality, never overdoing with the reverbs, choruses and effects but rather with just pure distortion, make it all a little bit compromised, but we like it like that.
One last note must be dedicated to an important choice in terms of legality, meaning their putting themselves in the hands of an “open-source” label like Subcava Sonora, giving up the standard copyright issue and embracing the more “democratic” copyleft program. The EP can therefore be listened and downloaded for free on Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/it/album/82794) and it's also shareable legally with whomever we want, on condition that it should not be used for commercial purposes. This is not the right place to argue about the Creative Commons licenses (CC) but it's a topic I suggest to explore, especially if you are musicians and really tired too about the SIAE monopoly.
Italian to English translation: Humbert of the Judge
