posted 09/21/2008 (Sun) @ 01:14 am

>>> Music Reviews

Raein - Nati Da Altri Padri (2008)

Punk / Prog / Screamo / Experimental

Only Happy When It Raeins

cover art

  1. 1 di 6
  2. 2 di 6
  3. 3 di 6
  4. 4 di 6
  5. 5 di 6
  6. 6 di 6

Known for their cutting edge fashion and guns that never jam, Italians produce some interesting music in spots, too. With this new record, these five guys from Forlì, Italy fire off supremely entertaining, mostly instrumental scream-laden bullets that twist, turn, bob and weave through seemingly limitless musical permutations—as long as those permutations all involve unpredictably bouncing off the walls like pinballs and popcorn kernels.

Raein existed for awhile, officially split in 2005, played a show or two for old times’ sake, then miraculously reformed late last year and recorded a new album for 2008. Nati Da Altri Padri seems to be universally described as “screamo” even by the people who wrote and performed it, but I’m not buying that. Sure, there’s screaming, and maybe they’re even screaming about their girlfriends—a staple of American screamo in the aughties—but here, the screams become just another layer of delicious texture, warping, boiling over and reinforcing the other instruments with the unique timbre of the human voice pushed and prodded.

“1 di 6″ opens with a nervous barrage of drumming. Joined by a lilting clean riff and some raunchy, guttersludge chords, the song only takes off at warp speed when the vocals explode with full force. Rather than spend their precious time burning the same formula onto the listener’s palate, however, Raein shift gears and textures on a whim. Though still heavy, the track sighs and slows near the end, then rebuilds to a dramatic crescendo, cutting out abruptly when the cerebral, twinkling guitar harmonics of the overall slower “2 di 6″ take over. Rinse and repeat. This album plays like a Ferrari probably drives. Shift, gun the engine, shift.

Then suddenly it’s all over and starting again. Brief at under twenty minutes, Nati Da Altri Padri is nevertheless among the best releases of 2008. “Spitfire” doesn’t begin to describe the powerline intensity of Raein. Lyrics buffs look elsewhere, but fans of heavy music with orchestral compositional technique will find themselves listening to this record on repeat for hours.

RIYL Gatsby’s American Dream with a little extra octane.

Links

Official site
Stream the album on Raein’s Myspace
Ape Must Not Kill Ape
Red Cars Go Faster

Note

If anyone knows who is releasing Nati Da Altri Padri on physical CD (or if this is happening at all), please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I can’t find this information anywhere and would like to support the band fully.

UPDATE: Thanks, charles!

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Permalink | September 21st, 2008

2 comments on this article

  1. Three Star Smash » Archives » Loma Prieta - Last City (2008) Says:
    November 14th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    [...] But what about what screamo used to mean? Don’t lose those earplugs, Mom and Dad—there’s a lot scarier stuff out there. Loma Prieta, a San Francisco born screamo troupe, stylistically abrade elbows with erupting volcanoes, and, at times, excellent Italian screamo torchbearers Raein. [...]

  2. charles Says:
    December 21st, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    APE MUST NOT KILL APE records (from switzerland) and RED CARS GO FASTER (from italy) will release it early 2009 I think.
    http://www.apemustnotkillaperecords.com
    http://www.redcarsgofaster.it

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