Italian COREY were regurgitated in 1998 by Stefano and Baulo (guitars), who saw the COREY ranks filled by Matteo (drums), Nicola (bass) and Iulo (vocals). These six years invested in music resulted in three releases so far: And Now Back to Metal (CD-R), a split with SYLVESTER STALINE and Sacroniente, the object of our attention.
A pink CD for a Grind band – that was a different first impression for sure. The second striking aspect to Sacroniente is the number of tracks – 33 – in 53 minutes. However, if you calculate correctly, you will easily understand COREY do not really have many extremely short songs. As a rule, the songs are not longer than two minutes, except the last two tracks with 7 minutes each. However, these are actually 7 minutes of nothingness, track 33 being a bunch of COREY members screaming their guts out for about one minute… and then you get 3 ½ minutes of a very good acoustic piece – a rather unexpected and very welcome surprise.
Actually, it is not fair to the band to label COREY as Grindcore, when their sound is more a mishmash of similar and related styles. There are bits and parts of Metalcore/ Hardcore, and given the fact that I am not really a die-hard hardcore fan (not even a fan, for that matter), I suppose the best description of the band is that of “hardCOREY” with metal and punk influences. Personally, Sacroniente did not appeal to the remotest of my senses and I could not even say how innovative they really are – I mean, there are some really good details in COREY’s music, notably some atmospheres, but overall it all sounds too dull to mine ears.
I do admit, however, that COREY’s music is brutal, as it should – and in a rather convincing way. Then there is the hotchpotch of genres: Jazz, Thrash, Metal, Punk, Hardcore with excerpts taken from From Dusk Till Dawn (notably the brilliant ‘pussy’ part). And then you get lyrics in Italian and English with a heavy dose of sickness and disgust, which makes Sacroniente a sick album – and that is good, because the musicians sound more than just okay. The frenzy madness discharged by COREY occasionally borders on noise. Vocals vary, but they are screaming all of the time. For a closer idea of the band’s sound, I could perhaps point out AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED.
I cannot really say if it is an official thing, but at least I got a badge with Sacroniente.
Cover Corey – Sacroniente Front
Corey – Soffoco