Urban Vietcong - Attacco ( reviewed by Randy Smith from Rebel Time Records)

  Out of all the Top 10's I've posted on here thus far, my favourite is from Rebel Time Records' Randy Smith. The reason being the effort he put into the update, not only writing extensive comments but also putting up cool picture/videos for his choices (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/top-10-songs-chosen-by-randy-smith.html). It was a no brainer that I was going to ask him to do one of the regular Friday guest reviews and he's come through with another winner. If you're interested in checking out Rebel Time Records then here's a couple of handy links :

https://rebeltimeproductions.wordpress.com/

https://rebeltimerecords.bandcamp.com/


 Thanks Randy.....

In the immortal words of Forrest Gump: "My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

 Well, in this particular case, the gettin' was good! And what I got, in the form of a FB message, was an introduction to a band called Urban Vietcong.

 Back in May of this year I received a FB message from a guy named Bebe who said he liked the label (Rebel Time Records) and wanted to let me know about the band Urban Vietcong (out of Livorno, Italy) which he sings for. He included a couple of videos and left it at that.

 Sidenote: after some FB back-and-forth with Bebe later on, I was stoked to learn that Bebe and Urban Vietcong's bass player both played in another of my favourite Italian bands, Trade Unions. Bebe seemed stoked to learn that anyone outside of Italy had even heard of Trade Unions. Look for Trade Unions on Youtube ...

 The first video was for the lead-off song "Attacco" from the band's debut release, a 6-song CD called "A Colpi de Machete." What the heck, I press play, and, immediately, just one bite in, realize that this is good, real real good. An ooey-gooey, super-catchy, 3 minute almalgamation of streetpunk/oi and left-radical politics. In fact, the whole album is quite simply a pot of political punk rock gold, chock full of songs of protest and resistance.

 Visually, the video starts off with a quote from Davide Rosci, imprisoned in Italy for his part in the 2011 riots in Rome that saw an armoured police vehicle set ablaze (He was released just a short time ago). Sonically, the video starts off with a sound bite from the movie 'Giordano Bruno,' something along the line of "all men are equal and have the right to think and raise their heads to the sky where the sun shines on the truth." Lyrically, the song deals with, as Bebe put it, "what should we, the proletariat (understood as workers, students, unemployed) do to organize, create and be more united..." Looking at the Italian lyrics, I noticed it name-checked, for example, the Black Panthers, the Viet Cong and the Palestian resistance and called for unity, organization, priortization and attack. A lot to chew on in just one song.

 Musically, Urban Vietcong hits the sweet spot. Attacco is an instantly memorable, melodic and meaningful song. It's taut, it's tense, it's tough. Catchy-as-heck, anthemic, shout-a-long streetpunk(as are all the songs on the album). The kind of song that has me singing along after a first listen. Personally, I'd say the band are, in terms of music and message, comparable to such equally inciteful and insightful contemporaries as Action Sedition, Afterboltxebike, Cor Fort, Mossin Nagant, RPG-7, etc. All bands that, I guess, could be lumped together as 'redcore' bands and all bands that I have on repeat.

 Apparently, the band will be back in the studio to record their second album early in 2018. Something to look forward to for sure.

.........................

Lyrics: " Discoccupati senza dio e rifugiati presi a calci in faccia trattati come feccia il proletariatovariegato e incazzato va reso coscienzoso e pure organizzato PRIORITA' è la casa e si difende coi picchetti PRIORITA' e il lavoro si bastona i sindacati PRIORITA' la scuola lotta con gli studenti PRIORITA' è la strada si difende dai fascisti Non stringeremo le cinghie le farem rotear davvero caricheremo uniti assalteremo il cielo Non mancheremo il colpo vi spazzeremo il via con il sangue agli occhi non sarà solo utopia Lo stato borghese si difende con i maiali sguinzagliando digos usando tribunali seduti sempre dalla parte sbagliata insieme allo sfruttato dietro una barricata ATTACCO vietcong a colpi di machete ATTACCO al razzismo come pantere nere ATTACCO come Palestina contro israele ATTACCO come Spartaco contro il potere "

https://urbanvietcong.bandcamp.com/album/a-colpi-di-machete

  This is Attacco....