Imagine listening to a CD of music scored for a film that may or may not exist and you'd have a bit of an idea of what NYC band Morricone Youth are trying to achieve with their full length debut Silenzio Violento. The band was formed about six years ago by soundtrack collector and guitarist Devon E. Levins with the premise that the band would perform live some of their favorite musical moments from cinematic history. It was not uncommon to find the band doing selections from movies as diverse as Rosemary's Baby, A Fistful of Dollars and Repo Man to name a few, however after a few years of performing their vast repertoire they decided to take on the rather challenging task of making their first CD one of all original material. This shows either that the band is absolutely off their rocker or that they've got balls the size of the state of New York. Putting out an album of cinematic covers is one thing, putting out an album of all original cinematic themed music is something else all together, surprisingly though the band pulls it off for the most part.
The disc itself is not solely an all instrumental affair as quite a few tracks feature vocals which are primarily handled by Dreiky Caprice. Unfortunately these songs end up falling a bit short when compared for example to songs such as the atmospheric "The Black Forest" or the fast, furious workout in "Heist". What does work is when the vocals are not featured as the center of the song but when added to the moody instrumental pieces and she is able to wail over top a screeching sax solo or the funky guitars of "Brujo Malo". It's not a case of her not being a good singer, but more that some of the mellower dreamy pieces that she sings don't suit the rest of the overall film noir mood that's conveyed in the rest of the material. Silenzio Violento is dark and dangerous at times while light and fluffy in other areas and much like a soundtrack it represents different colors and moods and this understandable, however overall I found it to be a bit of an uneven listening experience. It seems as if the bands intention was to make every song separate from the other with a few exceptions and one gets the feeling that every song could be a cut from a different film, but in the end I think it would have worked better had they gone with one theme and written around that. It's a challenging listen and it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but I think the band should be commended for taking the risk involved with doing music of this nature.
Track Listing
1. Silenzio Violento (titoli)
2. Starshine
3. Bonniewood
4. Bye Bye (take 5)
5. Monster
6. Super Villain
7. The Black Forest
8. Heist
9. Drink
10. Brujo Malo
11. Bye Bye (chase theme)
12. Funny Thing
13. I.V.A.N.
14. Bye Bye (end credits)
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