Mumble Rumble – “Tredici” (2008)

Label : Latlantide

Review by Tony Cannella

From Bologna, Italy comes the uniquely monikered all-female band Mumble Rumble. This band’s history actually dates back to 1990 and they have just released their third album “Tredici”. The band line-up looks like this: Simona De Sanctis (Vocals), Tiziana Govoni (Guitar), Giulia Bottazzi (Bass) and completing this quartet is Cristina Atzori (Drums). The band plays hard driving no-frills rock and roll, as the 13 songs on this CD will attest to. The CD begins with “Saved”. This is just a heavy, sludgy sounding down-tuned opener that really gets the ball rolling in a positive direction. The first thing that caught my attention was the beautiful and sensual vocal performance provided by Simona De Sanctis. She delivers the lyrics in both her native Italian and in English. The heaviness of the main riff is also a highlight. Next up is “Clematis”. This is just hard rocking, in your face number with the lyrics sung in Italian. Next is “The Right Choice” which begins with the rhythmic beat of some tribal sounding drums provided by Cristina. From there it develops into an aggressive punk rock-like number before taking on a dreamy vibe. The lyrics to this track are sung in English and are quite good. I especially like the line, “Thinking is useless, just instincts guide me”, words to live by. This is actually one of my favorite tracks on display. The band is all over the map on this one and the performances are top notch. Next is “Precious Faces” that features a heavy, infectious, catchy-as-all-hell riff that is also shows a bit of a funk influence. Next is “(On My) Skin” which is just a full on energetic slab of rock, that once again changes direction by the time we get to the chorus. The 2 1/2 minute instrumental “Rock Waltz” is next and is followed by “Playtime”. On this song Simona really shows off her range as a vocalist. Other highlights include: “Don’t Cry”, “Global War” and “Respiro”. Overall I really liked this CD. Musically, Mumble Rumble is a little hard to nail down. It’s true that they do rock hard but they also tend to veer off in other directions, all within the course of a song. I’m a bit hesitant to really compare them to anyone because I’m afraid any comparisons won’t do them justice. “Tredici” (which means 13 in Italian) features 54 minutes worth of music that is a bit of an adventure at times but the end end result is very satisfying.