In the distraction obsessed world we live in, it's interesting how even when we find intriguing music it can occasionally fall away from your attention.
It was just a month ago that I had the pleasure of writing a brief feature to premiere the video STORM{O} put together for their song, "Rilievo," and yet I hadn't listened to Finis Terrae much since that week.
Aside from disillusionment I've felt about music in general, as I read through some of the lyrics, it's almost as if I couldn't revisit Finis Terrae at a better time. It's no secret that life is seemingly unstable and hard to grasp, but current events have a way of amplifying anxiety.
I've been consumed with anxiety, frustration, and general misunderstanding in a way that I've not felt for a long time as of late. I don't review this record from a place of having found any resolve, but I am reminded at the calm I find in the frenetic energy of genuine music and that is what STORM{O} presents on Finis Terrae.
Incorporating influences spanning various eras of angular hardcore, noise, and screamo; the fire within each song has an instant impact. I want to first highlight the third track, "Movente," or "Motive"; "I'm breathing gestures made of concrete in to let you hold the impression of my breathing out". This translation of the lyrics by singer Luca Rocco offers what I interpret as a very common and all too paralyzing picture of the anxiety that seems to fuel the world at large. It's not always clear whether the human race is surviving or merely struggling until an inevitable breaking point is reached.
A struggle and the perseverance found in it can be a key component of surviving though. Tracks 7 and 8, "Progresso" and "Metropoli," respectively, both make me think of the waves of homelessness and the economic challenges of the modern world. While there seems to be great wealth for some, there seems to be even greater and crippling poverty for too many people in a variety of forms. These two songs, I feel, are great expressions of not just the problems being faced but also the strength to aim for amid a world that is hard to grasp.
Overall, Finis Terrae is not just a valuable record because of the energetic passages of music and insightful lyrics that offer a different perspective when we're limited primarily to our own. I think with Finis Terrae, STORM{O} has managed to remind me why I even enjoy hardcore music in the first place. We all may not have anything figured out, and may never find answers to all our questions, but there is a strength to be found in the chaos.
As of just a few weeks ago, Finis Terrae is out now through a collective of labels including Moment of Collapse Records (DE), Skeletal Lightning (US), To Lose La Track (IT), Shove Records (IT), Pundonor Records (ES), Left Hand Label (UK/DE), Zegema Beach Records (CAN/NZ) as well as through STORM{O}'s Bandcamp page.
Tagged: storm{o}
