Barbera & Champagne – Essi Vero – Review

Here we are, today we move to the capital city to talk about the latest album by Barbera & Champagne, oi! band that has been active since 2013, which includes members from memorable likewise Roman bands such as Automatica Aggregazione and FAVL. The album is entitled “ Essi Vero”, and had been registered at Hombre Lobo Studio and produced by Hellnation Records, in cooperation with Pat Atho (Gli Ultimi, Automatica Aggregazione, Divergenza, etc.)
I start telling you that I really enjoy the cover, this “ancient” artwork matches perfectly the Intro of the record (“Barbera e Champagne” by the great Italian songwriter Giorgio Gaber), as spot on as the cover and pleasant to listen. I can say a great move!
But here that this friendly mood is being broken by the first track “Essi Vero”: with its fast and energetic rhythm, it is a criticism towards the influence that social networks and medias have on our society (nobody excluded, in my opinion); this subject is reclaimed from another point of view also in the next track “Strade Vuote”: assigned point in favour of both tracks.
“Gattabuia” and “Nel Mio Inferno” project us to the central part of the album, calmer than the initial one, with a melancholy and sorrowful tone that makes you ponder; the guitar lines in the second one are nice and catchy.
A song of significance in this album, and probably my favourite one, is “Federico”: music and lyrics are ‘soaked’ with rage and pain, a shout to the one who was a victim of a unjustified abuse, so that we will never forget this. Splendid, and touching.
With the previous “Take Away” together with “Luminarie” and “Un giorno Credi” the sound becomes step-by-step lively, passing from a danceable rock to a charged punk-rock.
We remain in this punk-rock-oi! style with the song “Borderline”, which starts musically and lyrically in a badass way and then lets off steam with a faint and hopeful tone, in await of better times after the ones more pensive.
And here that “ Non Sei Più Uno Skinhead” leads us to the end of the record: people change, but why do we have to criticize them for this?
Also the band has changed a little (stylistically), this album is more “quite” than the previous they made, not that this wants to be a bad connotation, not at all!
Well done guys!

ALBUM RATING: 8

Reviewed and translated by Chiara Piva