FOMENTO

Italian brawlers FOMENTO know how to throw a punch, a lot of punches! "To Persevere is Diabolical" is as tight as those stonewashed jeans you wore in the 80s and as tough as the ass kickin' you got for reintroducing them in 2012. Metallic hardcore and modern thrash brought forth with energy and solid songwriting is what you can expect and somehow it doesn't end up tired or worn out from existing amongst the many acts that have done it less convincingly in the past.

Reminding to some degree of acts like BORN FROM PAIN, or better yet like BARCODE playing thrash or DEAD SHAPE FIGURE playing hardcore, FOMENTO does not amaze so much as it stuns, as in the impact made by a stun gun. Vocalist/bassist Marco Krasinksi directs the attack with a throaty bark and a big bucket of testosterone to go with arrangements littered with riff chunks, SLAYER bits, and THE HAUNTED-isms. The occasional, if subtle, death metal lick is found too amidst the King/Hanneman flashes in arrangements that are direct, yet not uninteresting, much as you'll taste on "Predominance" when it's being shoved down your throat. Gang shouts are used when necessary to get the point across (e.g. "Monster Mobster" and "Desecrator"),while violence was deemed a necessity from the beginning of the project and remained as such until the end.

Hats off to FOMENTO for making an album in "To Persevere is Diabolical" that doesn't turn stale by the time the middle rounds arrive. That's not to say that there is a surprise around every corner or that the Italian rabble has redefined an approach that has been tried and tested across the globe. It just means that FOMENTO has made a worthwhile effort that gets the adrenaline pumping with bloody knuckled urgency and vibrancy of approach. It's music for street fights.