Album Review: Spoiled – Collapse
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
Within the first 60 seconds of opening track “Marching Spoiled” I’m completely, totally and utterly hooked into Italian band Spoiled. That opening riff from guitarist Pekkia and accompanying drum beat form Yari, just takes me back to my formative years discovering bands like DRI, and that’s before the vocals of Danny Boy even surface!!!
The songs are fast and frenetic, just as they should be, and not too long either. “Beer Stealers” is just over a minute in length and will make you want to form your own circle pit wherever you happen to be listening to the track and then “Zombie Hunters” comes round the back to sucker punch you in the kidneys, with more aggression and searing pace.
The guitar work from Pekkia is impressive and if you are fans of 250BPM thrash/crossover then you’ll be smiling all the way through it. There’s the odd tempo change now and again but they keep their collective foot squarely on your throat throughout and with “What a Mess” you get to sample that slick bass playing from Yari once again, whilst Zibbo on drums, is doing his best Animal from The Muppets impression, as he powers the songs forward.
Then we have a few songs over 2 minutes in length, with “Punkomat” giving off that air of Suicidal Tendences just with harsher vocals, and then “Be Food!” feels a bit more controlled in the earlier part of the song, before the chaos returns and all hell breaks loose. It’s simple, effective and so much fun to listen to. As a band who originally formed in 2016, they’ve had a few line-up changes and a hiatus, so emerging with the debut release is certainly a case of better late than never.
There’s a definite “You Suffer” energy around the appropriately titled “Napalm” which explodes with 6 seconds of exuberance, before we are back down to the break need speed and explosiveness of “Phate I Nabbath” and the punchy “Rotting Sun”, which has a sumptuous solo midway. You get more of a Municipal Waste feeling around “Identity” and the 15 songs are just an invitation to get into the pit, even for an old man like me if someone holds my glasses of course!!!
What I particularly enjoy about Spoiled, is that they stick to their formula, because what they are doing, they do very well indeed, and by keeping the songs shortish in length, they can do more of them. “Fratello d_Italia” is like a blitzkrieg going off right in front of you, whilst “Filastin” is the fireball that reminds you that there is no let-up in the face of their full-frontal assault.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, but not before “Arabian Tower” and “A.S.P.O.S.” reminds you of the pugnacious nature of their music which is full of dynamism, passion and will bludgeon you into submission. After one listen, the only thing to rightly do is play it again and again and again.
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