Review: Nabat – Banda Randagia

What you will read in the following lines was not easy to write; Nabat, in fact, are a seminal band, a real milestone in the history of oi! So to talk about Nabat today, you can’t just review their new work but you need to have an overview and it is difficult to do this for us, young people who have seen and heard them only in recent years. But we are reckless and we try anyway.
Let’s proceed step by step. “Banda Randagia” was born inside Vecchio Son, where it was recorded and released in 2018 thanks to C.A.S. and Ansaldi Records. The album contains 14 tracks of which 10 unpublished and 4 already previously released, namely “Hey Boot Boy” (2013), “Braccato” (2013), “La Marcia dei disperati” (2014) and “Cronaca di un Uomo Ferito” (1996).
“Banda Randagia” is available in LP+CD format with Andrea Cerrato’s graphic design: on the front there is the Nabat logo while on the back there is a picture of the group. Just to make you understand that it’s a blast, the copies we had in distro were sold out in no time.
As for the record itself, we think that this is the fair continuation of their career: in fact they offer us the classic old school oi, with nihilistic and imbued with social distress lyrics, but updated to the times in which we live. At the same time there are some lyrics immersed in the reality of Bologna. In fact, on the one hand we find songs like “Quel da fêr”, written and sung entirely in Bolognese and “Non C’è Spazio”, in which are mentioned facts such as the massacre of Bologna and the killing of Francesco Lorusso in March 11th, while on the other hand we find songs like “Voucher” and “Gossip Riot” that go into definitely current issues. There are also real hymns to friendship and brotherhood of those who fight in the street and, in this regard, we quote a phrase from “Banda Randagia” which reads “but we are not alone here, there are at least a hundred other hearts”.
Overall, the album is smooth and very involving. Marco gives us old-school punk oi guitar riffs with blues/rock n roll influences like in “Non ti Fermare” and some fine made solos. Choirs and choruses are in full Nabat style, of those that enter your head and make you sing every single song from the first listening. Steno offers us a great vocal performance, with a lot of energy. It already makes us want to hear these new songs live. Excellent also UiUi on drums and Genio on bass, who give great solidity to the songs.
“Banda Randagia” is a beautiful album, intense and full of passion, absolutely to listen to, groove after groove, track after track. As long as historical bands like Nabat still have something to say, we will listen to them and be overwhelmed by their energy.
We have done our best and as for every review our aim is to convey the desire to listen to the record in question. We hope we’ve done our best.
Thanks Nabat, for everything! Oi!

Written by Tom and Zoe