Review Summary: La Quiete at its best, narrating bittersweet stories
La Quiete is a screamo & post-hardcore band often quoted as one of the most influential acts in the European scene of emotional hardcore music. By producing countless DIY splits and some EPS, the band gained a large fan base that went far beyond the Italian peninsula, place of origin of the quintet. While the previous works and intensive touring gained La Quiete some reputation, it is with the LP "La Fine non è la fine" (The end is not the end) that the band appointed themselves as one of the seminal bands of the screamo scene.
The LP entails nine songs and is long only 21 minutes, therefore being a rather accessible listen for people approaching to the genre. The production quality of the record is not very elaborated, in a very common fashion of the screamo/hardcore genre. However, the sound is much cleaner in comparison to other releases such as the Ep "Tenpeun", being more accessible and providing a more focused experience to the listener. The songs differ in length ranging from 1 minute to 5 minutes,some being the longest tracks the band has ever written in their career. Short tracks such as “Merce Cunningham” and “Uncaged” have a stronger hardcore feeling, lasting not much more than a minute. Interestingly, these hardcore-oriented tracks seem to be a bridge between the longest tracks, which contain the deepest and saddest moments of the album. Songs such as "Ciò che non siamo, ciò che non vogliamo" ("What we are not, what we do not want" a homage to the Italian poet Montale) and “La fine non è la fine” have thick post-rockish atmospheric sections driven by harmonic guitar work. These tracks are the highlights of the disc, successfully mixing melancholic reflexive melodies and bursts of chaotic rage in a convincing hybrid. This is what La Quiete does best; mixing harshness with melodic parts, in a formula copied by countless post-hardcore bands that rarely achieved similar results.
The intro starts with a guitar distortion that grows until an explosion of screamed vocals and chaotic sound in the song "Raid Aereo sul Paese delle farfalle". It is interesting to know that the vocals are entirely shouted in Italian, but the sound is so distorted that the lyrics are almost indiscernible, creating a sound that is peculiar to the band and differentiate them from many other bands playing similar genres. At times, they seem to affirm that feelings do not need a specific language to be expressed, and the voice is merely a device to deliver a higher message. It may seem trivial to stress the importance of emotions in La quiete style of music, but the former really is the core strength of the record, creating a full spectrum of feelings in the listener. While the shouted vocals are so dense of emotion, a closer look at the lyrics reveals that the band discusses abstract and hermetic topics that relate to the human psyche, creating short texts in an almost poetic fashion. Finally, the outro of the album ends with guitar sound slowly fading away, a sound that reminds of vintage snowy landscape and that leaves a bittersweet feeling in the listener, creating a bizarre opposition to the chaotic start of the record.
“La fine non è la fine” is the magnum opus of La Quiete, and a must-know for every emotional hardcore/ screamo fan. By mixing different stylistic elements, La Quiete created a true work of passion that is now older than 10 years, but still a first choice in terms of quality and delivery. Try it, you will not be disappointed
