Bloody Riot – Rivoltiamo

More than forty years after the records that helped define Italian hardcore punk, Bloody Riot return with Rivoltiamo, a new album born not out of nostalgia, but from the need to engage with the present.

The spark came unexpectedly. Four years ago, at the funeral of a friend, a group of old companions crossed paths again after many years apart. From that meeting came an invitation to play an important festival and, almost without realizing it, the band was back in motion. Joining longtime members Lorenzo Canevacci, Alex Vargiu and Fabiano “Master” Bianco were Valerio Lazzaretti and Simone Lucciola, both of whom had previously taken part in the tribute concert dedicated to the band’s late singer Roberto “Perci” Perciballi.

After the festival, more shows followed across Italy: Bari, Florence, Pisa, Perugia and Bologna. But it soon became clear that simply revisiting the band’s 1980s repertoire was not enough. The urge to write new songs emerged naturally—songs capable of addressing today’s world with the same spirit that drove Bloody Riot in their early years.

The songs on Rivoltiamo deal with themes such as the 41-bis prison regime, the repression of dissent, abuse of power, the influence of religious institutions in public life, new forms of addiction, information manipulation, nationalism, environmental devastation and existential unease. The lyrics are direct and openly partisan, less slogan-driven than in the past but just as sharp and determined in striking their target.

The album also contains more personal moments. Parole al veleno is dedicated to Roberto Perciballi, whose presence is still deeply felt within the band’s identity. Ultima chiamata pays tribute to Massimo Lala of Last Call. Particularly significant is Cuore bugiardo, a critical reworking of Bitch, an old Bloody Riot song, transforming a controversial chapter of the band’s past into a reflection on loneliness, emotional isolation and the difficulty of building genuine human relationships.
Musically, the record remains faithful to what the band has always proudly called “Ardecore de Roma”: essential, direct and uncompromising hardcore punk. Recording sessions were completed with drummer Claudio Finelli during a temporary hiatus from Fabiano Bianco, who later returned to the lineup.

The artwork also develops the central concept running through the entire album. Rivoltiamo is about revolt, but above all about reversal: of perspectives, roles, hierarchies and dominant narratives. The cover image was conceived around this idea of overturning power relations and expresses, through the provocative language that has always characterized punk culture, a rejection of vertical and authoritarian structures. For online circulation, a partially censored version of the artwork has been used, while the complete image will appear inside the physical edition of the record.

The album title encapsulates the meaning of the entire work: revolt as opposition, but also as a reversal of perspective. Because the world has changed for the worse since the 1980s, yet many of the reasons that once fueled anger, conflict and the desire for change are still right in front of our eyes.

APC99/HELLP053