Verismo

“This is neither hardcore, punk or metal, but some strange hybrid
monster with a little bit of all three...a very solid debut"
- Ken Wood, Metal Reviews - Ken Wood, Metal Reviews

"These guys definitely have the sprit, talent, skills and courage...
88/100" - Metal to Infinity

"These musicians have solid sound going on and know how to please
their fans... 8/10" - Mike Burmeister, Adrenalin Metal

"a band whose stoner rock vibes and thrash metal licks work in conjunction to righteously kick you in the ass...a band that can groove, thrash, and leave a melody humming in your head" - Scott Bolton, Rough Edge

"A high-energy, straight-forward heavy rock act who have done well to cement a sound that is distinctly its own. Elements of thrash and punk’s heavier side gives City Of Kings that nice, warm pissed-off vibe that saves the album from the long reaching arms of aural redundancy" - Ryan Ogle, Live 4 Metal

'Bad Day' 2.48

"Taken from the self-released album 'City of Kings'. A lip-curled assault of punkish glam-meets thrash, Verismo are the multi national (Italian, Hungarian, Philippine) rock crew who bullied Motely Crue and wedgied GN'R before they were even concieved in 2003. Undemanding, rifftacular from the heart of Brooklyn". - Jamie Graham (Terrorizer)

Heavy Metal Resources
- CD Reviews by Dave Palmer

Megadeth - United Abominations
...Dave Mustaine returns again on 'United Abominations' with the Drover brothers and James Lomenzo on bass. This album is definitely fueled by political subject material....

Verismo - City Of Kings
This album comes across to me as being very consistent not only in terms of tempo, but in quality as well....

Read more:
http://www.heavymetalresource.com/review380.html

Keepin' it Rollin'.... - Heavy Metal Resources

Midwest Metal - CD Review

Verismo - City of Kings

Hey, does anyone remember L'amours Rock Club in Brooklyn? C'mon, old farts like me know the legend of that place; it's as known around the world as the Aragon Ballroom in my hometown of Chicago. Well, for you younglings amongst us, L'amours was pretty much the "it" spot on the east coast for metal in the 80s. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Agent Steel, Venom, Warlock, Testament, King Diamond, Trouble – hell, you name the metal band and chances are they played there. The time period was complimented by a great club that gave us metalheads a home to call our own. Well, I may be remiss, but I'm pretty sure the old girl has long given way to time and a changing of the guard, but, wow, what a time that was, my friends! I personally have never seen it with thine own eyes, but I'll tell you, I traded bootleg shows with many a person from the Brooklyn area and I can tell you that, bar-none, the crowds in that place were just insane! Anyway, before I begin shedding tears for my lost youth let's get to the matter at hand, and that is that Brooklyn is back on the metal map!

Brooklyn-based rockers Verismo are a trio that have managed to make a CD that borders on that old L'amours sound in that it is straight-up metal that really defies any conventional media-tripe label or sub-genre. Hey man, the guys are straight rockers and are heavy as hell! Stephan Laboccetta handles the killer vocals and guitar, Vincent Cruz handles bass with amazing ease and Tamas Vajda decimates the drums. Laboccetta has the vocal styling of a strong, less-mundane Rob Zombie, though for you White Zombie haters that is NOT an insult by any means; he has a VERY distinct vocal delivery and tone that fits 150% perfectly with the music. If you don't trust your old pal Chris, then take a trip to the band official website or MySpace page and sample the goods yourself!

The fusion here is so surreal, so unusual that I'm really not sure what to say about it that can breed comparison. Hell, that's a positive thing! I do hear Testament, Exodus, Anthrax, S.O.D., and a host of other inspiring legends, but Verismo has a concrete seat of its own. These guys are (unknowingly?) smashing away at the ridiculousness of genre-pimping and half-assed classification that seems a necessary evil in metal music. I've come to the real conclusion that the "infidels" to this "thing of ours" really just seem to be hoping to confuse and dissuade the youth from trying out metal with all of its genre-raping. That's okay, let then have rap and leave the metal to the men! And these men have the ball firmly in hands!

The tracks are "Enemy," "City of Kings," "The Last Word," "Bad Day," "Moment of Clarity," "The Lorax," "Field Report," "For the Record," "Hope," and "Legacy." Each track has its own signature, man; the talent and gelling of these three guys makes me smile so sincerely that our scene is still alive every day with guys like this that give a shit or two.

Please check them out? Ten Hammers for these guys! You'll love them, but check out their pages and see if I'm not right. Trust your old pal Chrissy!

Chris Pratl – Midwest Metal - www.midwestmetalmagazine.com - Midwest Metal Magazine

Verismo
CITY OF KINGS
Independent

If the music industry, and specifically the big labels, ever want to know why they are failing so miserably these days, they can look directly at a band like Verismo as a reference point. Currently unsigned and putting out a self-produced effort, they have brought forth a metal album that showcases power, energy, rage and musical diversity. Their album is one of those very rare hybrids of musical muscle that would be every bit as appealing to the young kinds buying today's metal as it would to the guy bordering on 50 who hasn't bought a new metal CD since THE LEGACY by Testament came out. But do the major labels even give them a look? Doesn't seem like it. Instead they choose to neuter a band like Shadows Fall and release their latest steaming pile of sh*t. Instead they tame a band like Lamb Of God a bit to make them more "marketable" (for the record, I do love SACRAMENT. Save your hatemail unless you can come back to me with reasons SACRAMENT is a stronger metal album than NEW AMERICAN GOSPEL). In today's world, the big labels just continue to miss the boat, while more and more metal fans find their music through MySpace, or by illegally downloading everything that sounds metal and trying it out.

Signed or not, Verismo really kicks ass. To describe this band is pretty simple, really. They sound very much like an 80s metal thrash band (think Testament, Overkill, etc) meshed with some influence from some of the more recent extreme acts of today (God Forbid comes immediately to mind). Vocalist/guitarist Stephan Laboccetta clearly has listened to a lot of old-school thrash in his day. His vocal sound falls somewhere between the two distinct sounds of Testament vocalist Chuck Billy, although he combines it with some screams that are reminiscent of every vocalist out there today that thinks they are heavy. Songs like "Bad Day" could have escaped from an early Testament album, complete with a really old-school, Alex Skolnick like lead break in the middle of the song from Laboccetta. As a thrash band, this band has to have a rock solid foundation underneath it, which they do. Drummer Tamas Vajda and bassist Vincent Cruz are extremely solid at creating a giant bottom end for this act. "Moment Of Clarity" finds the rhythm section playing like maniacs, with Vajda sounding almost like a machine gun mowing down a city street in Fallujah. This song also finds the surprisingly diverse Laboccetta sounding more like Pepper Keenan than anywhere else on the CD.

PITRIFF RATING – 8/10 - Overall, you really can't go wrong with CITY OF KINGS. It's got some newer elements mixed in, but ultimately it's a thrash album that showcases some musical precision, power, and surprising diversity from a three piece metal band. While I'm sure the band hopes otherwise, I hope these guys don't get signed by a major label any time soon. I'd hate to see them ruined like most of the rest. Rock on, Verismo! - PitRiff

Hot Flashes

Introducing Brooklyn Thrashers VERISMO

Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 11:08:55 EST

BW&BK has received the following update on Brooklyn thrashers VERISMO (www.verismetal.com, www.myspace.com/verismo):

"Forget bed-head haircuts, eye shadow, and skinny jeans. Forget the whiny CLASH-wannabe bands dominating the airwaves, and dig into City Of Kings, the debut album from a rip-roaring, headbanging, alcohol-fueled "thrash fuckin' metal" band from Brooklyn, Verismo (which is Italian for 'realism').

Comprised of Stephan Laboccetta (vocals, guitar), Vincent Cruz (bass), and Tamas Vajda (drums), Verismo is a return to the good old days of thrash, when musicians knew their instruments, vocals were both intense and intelligible, and a live show was truly an experience. This is not a throwback or "old school" anything, this is three dirty metalheads from Brooklyn who can shred on their instruments, drink you under the table, and put on a live show that will leave you breathless.

City Of Kings, the crushing debut from Verismo, was recorded in one continuous take under the watchful eye of Dean Baltulonis (SICK OF IT ALL), mastered at Trutone Studios by Joe Lambert (TED NUGENT, ALICE COOPER), and delivered in a package truly representative of the post industrial wasteland sections of Brooklyn, the "city of kings" were the members met and wrote what is sure to become an independent classic.

Already competing with the majors, this record has independently charted on the FMQB top 50, and has been in regular rotation in many local and distant stations, including a spot in the top ten of WSOU for weeks by this point. All three members are no slouches on their instruments, either, as Laboccetta received his degree music at Radford University, ex- Ringling Brothers performer/acrobat Vajda received a diploma from the Drummers Collective, and Cruz was trained at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. As a result, Verismo is a band that fans of vintage thrash and hard rock are guaranteed to appreciate. - BW&BK