| CD REVIEW Resurrecturis |
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Band: Resurrecturis If there’s one thing you might say about rhythm guitarist Carlo Strappa, it’s that he’s a musician dedicated to the procreation of the Italian Death Metal/ Grindcore scene! Although he’s got a well-paying job today (as a marketing manager in an Italian company with international working field), he’s consacrates a considerable part of his daily time getting up at 5:30 AM each morning to either practice his guitar play, or send out e-mails to the world at large…and he’s been dedicated to the cause since the mid ‘80s, making him one of the originators of the Italian scene! At the time he started Resurrecturis (in the year 1990) Carlo was already occupying himself in the bands Meltdown and Allegra Combricca (the first a Progressive Metal act which made a demo in ’90 and a second one the year after; the second a Heavy Metal act which only released the one ’90 demo). Prior to releasing their debut album Nocturnal on the Diamond Records imprint in November 1998, the band had released three demos [1995’s 3-track No Flesh Shall Be Spared, 1996’s 6-track Evil Confronting Evil (re-issued as an EP through US cult label Wild Rags a year later), and 1997’s 5-track Corpses] and a split 7-inch single with Grief Of God (titled Leichname Für Immer) issued through Quamby Hill Records in May 1998! During 1999, Backwood Productions not only issues a compilation CD including the band’s three demos and three previously unreleased songs (two of ‘em covers)…but also a double CD box set including the same, and the band’s debut album! The debut was fairly well-received but rather badly distributed, and only the licenced 12-inch versions (through Dutch label Power Records, for instance) and the double CD compilation saved the day! The year 2000 saw Resurrecturis spreading their message with their Suicidal Mission Tour, with shows played in Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Slovenia, and ending with a near fatal accident on the way home. More gigs and a couple of festival appearances followed (among which the infamous Slovenian Open Flatuss where they co-headlined with Cockney Rejects), but during 2001 the band went into a severe internal crisis, which forced ‘em into a temporary break! The band re-emerged in 2004 with the self-release of the twistedly titled The Cuckoo Clocks Of Hell. Again receiving excellent reviews, the album was then picked up by Spanish label Mondongo Canibale. Resurrecturis’ popularity in the Underground music scene shot to a highpoint when they decided to make the album (and later their complete discography) available for free download, as titterally thousands made good use of the offer! Late 2005, the band first supported Vital Remains on the 3-week European leg of their Vital Brutality Tour, and in April 2006 they were again touring Europe, playing seconds to Impaled Nazarene, Macabre, and Jungle Rot. The band ended this intense live activity with performances at the German Fuck the Commerce and Italian Pollution Festival events. No need to say the higher profile of these activities lifted the band to a higherprofile as well! Recordings for Non Voglio Morire were actually started at the beginning of 2007, and took the best part of that year. The producer of the studio then disappears a while to do the mixing, to resurface a couple of months later with a truly awful product. Dissatisfied, the band demands the return of the recording sessions…which they finally obtain in April 2008…and then take those to Paolo Ojetti (singer for Infernal Poetry, connected with Resurrecturis for having played bass on the Vital Brutality tour, and being a band member of drummer Alessandro Vagnoni, whom also acted as mixing assistant) at the Potemkin Studio. In September, the band shoots a professional video for their song “The Fracture”. By then, singer/ guitarist Janos Murri is found out to be unreliable and a pain in the butt, thrown out of the band, and the video shooting done with stand in people (I think they díd use Marco Racchichini, whom played guitar solos on two of the album’s songs, and is now apparently a member of the band, with Carlo taking over vocal duties – something he’d already done with Meltdown), and one Enrico Aguzzi as the singer. Oh my…I almost forgot to tell you a very important thing at this moment: Non Voglio Morire is the first chapter in a strongly autobiographical two-album concept, this first part dealing with the author’s lifelong search for immortality through artistic creation. It starts with an angry teen picking up the guitar trying to shape his thoughts and views. 20 years later his search still ain’t over, in fact it continues each evening when the grown man comes home from work! Musically, Resurrecturis evidently changed directionally with the passing years, because with Carlo growing as a guitarist he also wanted to express himself that way! There’s still moments when the music is very close to Death Metal with a Grind touch, with growled and aggressive vocals…but with a great feeling for overall melodies (check album opener “The Origin” as first example)! On the other side, there’s also songs which are a mix of Modern Metal (or even Traditional Heavy Metal with a Progressive touch) with some Thrash, the vocals used partially rather clean. Occasionally, the pace and tone are downed to make for a Doom geared track. Take “The Artist”, forever, where Carlo made the mistake of using…his sister? his wife…Gloria Strappa as duet singer. Mistake, because she’s got an aweful accent which belies her native origins! Nah, then her more modest collaboration during “Calling Our Names” (consisting of a moderate “oho-oho” backing) are much to be preferred! In direct contrast to the aggressive opener, the album closes with the semi-acoustic “In Retrospective”, the recording/ mixing of which was done only by early October 2008, with Carlo’s brother Andrea playing the piano, and Gjergji Kora singing! To get a taste of this band, it suffices to surf to myspace.com/resurrecturis, where the band has posted 3 songs off the new album (alongside one off the debut and two other off the second album). As far as the album goes, it’s certainly a pretty diversified one! Whether purists will like that, remains to be seen, but then that kind of people do not usually make up a big crowd! Originally slated for February 2009, the delayed release has the advantage of now including a bonus DVD disc iincluding the video clip for “The Fracture”, a short (5 ½ minute) behind the scenes flick made during the making of the video (with the music of “Away From the Flock” used as background, a 4:19 pictures slide show, and a 4-song excerpt from the band’s video-recorded live appearance on May 26, 2006, in Luckau (Germany). 85/100 Tony. |