SUBMEET - Terminal

A rather dark release from the Lady Sometimes Records camp: the cult label for everything on the shoegaze-noise pop spectrum delivers “Terminal” by submeet – dutifully written in lowercase, like certain sacred names in the scene – a record firmly rooted in the grimmest post-punk. The Mantua trio (made up of Zannunzio on bass and vocals, Andrea Guardabascio on guitars and vocals, and Jacopo Rossi on drums and vocals), whose only previous release was their self-titled Ep from 2017, arrive at their long-awaited debut album after earning international praise – see Preoccupations asking for the band to play at Covo in Bologna, as well as a mention on Consequence Of Sound.

Although the album’s title and opening track immediately drop us into one of the quintessential non-places according to the studies of French anthropologist Marc Augé (namely, the airport), “Terminal” draws on a broader concept, as the band themselves explain: “The place that inspired us is the airport. Not one in particular, but the collective imagery of all the elements that make up the experience of travelling by plane”. A favoured nest where the Mantua trio vents all their sonic violence, lyrical rage and dark contemporary obsessions.

After the ambient intro of “190720_0004”, the pneumatic, relentless interplay of instruments that weaves through “Terminal” hits us square in the chest – the title track and the single chosen to introduce the album to the public: just a few beats in and we’re already inside submeet’s sonic world, where you can feel the presence of the aforementioned Canadian post-punk standard-bearers but also that of Daughters, especially in the industrial clangour. Tension, fury and inspiration remain at this level for all forty-five minutes of the record, right up to the great final climax of “Audiodrome”, a long and devastating nightmare that closes the journey in the best possible way, as well as one of the finest tracks live: seeing is believing.

In between, we find the tormented, distorted stopover of “Capsule Hotel”, the unstoppable fury of the second single “Nimby”, and the dissonances of “Makkahtronic”. At a time when post-punk is experiencing a new youth, it’s great to find, among the most celebrated international names, an Italian band with nothing to envy from its peers. Quite the opposite.

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24/01/2020