“Understanding death as transformation could probably lead us to a better world, ecologically and socially speaking” says Stormo frontman; Luca Rocca. Over the previous year, Stormo have been causing chaos in their live shows in Europe, culminating with the band signing to Prosthetic Records at the end of 2022. With an album name like Endocannibalismo (The tribal act of eating relatives as a form of mourning), there’s only really one type of music that would be expected of the four-piece: chaotic & heavy. Stormo delivers on that in all areas.
Fuzzy, heavily distorted guitars fill the space opening the album on the first track ‘Valichi, Oltre’ slowly at first, but then erupting into a cacophony of noise as Rocca joins the frenzy. It’s loud and to the point as Rocca, shouts down the microphone to anyone who will hear. This frenetic energy radiating from the band is palpable and it’s clear to anyone why they’ve been picked up by Prosthetic so quickly. This is the music that was designed to be played at full volume in small, intimate venues where the audience is within arm’s reach of the band. Right from the get-go, Stormo’s goal is clear, to make an eruption of thunderous Hardcore music.
Things for the band take a leftfield turn on the track ‘Sorte’ beginning delicately (a first for the band), with lightly strung acoustic style guitars, before plunging straight back into the heavy stuff. There’s elements of early Converge to be found in the orchestrated noise. Rocca’s vocals are a highlight of the piece, his raw voice complimenting the savagery of the instruments perfectly. The controlled chaos that the band performs never feels messy, but also doesn’t stray into feeling safe. The band manages to toe the line balancing the two elements well.
‘Frame’ also takes on more leftfield turns opting for more of an instrumental for the front half of the song, with some glitchy white noise into guitars with minimal vocals. When Rocca eventually joins in with the sounds, however, his voice is reminiscent of punk giants Dead Kennedys with the high intensity of fast-paced lyrics.
It’s not often that you find a band that are able to perform such intensity without falling into the trap of it becoming a mess or not going too hard into the music. Stormo is an example of such a band that are able to do this dutifully. It is abundantly clear that this band should be one of the new big faces in festival lineups such as Outbreak.
Keep an eye on this band as this new material is bound to cause absolute mayhem on the tour circuit over the next coming years.
Buy the album here:
https://stormo.bandcamp.com/album/endocannibalismo
8 / 10
CHARLIE HILL