Features

Blvd of Death: Italian Band Worships at ‘90s NYHC Altar

Photo: Temesvári Levente

"My old band, Rage Cage, came to an end a few years ago then I asked my paisans to help me out on jamming some new songs that I had in my fridge and we were thrilled on the final result, so why not to do a new band?" That's what Edo Zavarella tells me about the origins of Blvd of Death, the new hardcore band he's fronting out of Italy. That last part is particularly interesting because many people might assume the group is based out of NYC since their sound certainly mines from the same stylistic well as Crown of Thornz and Breakdown.

Edo fills me in on the rest of his Blvd of Death cohorts and their other past and present bands: "Massimo plays guitar in No More Fear (death metal Italian masters since 1999), Ivan played drums for a lot of metal and stoner band around Europe, and Leandro is our sound engeneer (he also play guitar in Face Your Enemy)."

Blvd of Death just issued its debut EP, a 6-track collection that worships at the altar of '90s NYHC called Hell is Full of Good Intentions. The EP was released in the US by Edgewood Records, a Richmond, VA-based label that has also backed records by such bands as Dead Heat and Trail of Lies. "I love Richmond hardcore," says Edo. "It's the best current US hardcore scene, in my opinion. All those bands/labels, including Edgewood Records, represent the real NYHC style and attitude revival of our 'era.' I asked for some help to my boss Craig at Edgewood to spin this shit around the US and he was cool with it. Thats it."

Blvd of Death is named after the infamous street that stretches for over 7 miles throughout Queens. I grew up a few blocks away from the thoroughfare and throughout the years remember seeing stories about people getting killed by speeding cars as they tried to cross from one side to the other. So, the question is, how does a band consisting of Italians even know about the street in the first place?

"I've never been to the US, but regarding our name, I was chatting with Freddy Alva (No Echo contributor, author) and sent him some pre-production so he said: 'Thats mid-'90s Queens style, so Blvd of Death, aka Queens Blvd, could be a cool name. So, yeah, he came up with the name."

Photo courtesy of Edgewood Records

I end my conversation with Edo by finding out who he thought were some underrated NYHC bands: "From bands to zines and videos, theres been to much copious '80s worship afoot lately, so yeah, I think '90s NYHC is a lil bit underrated. I'm talking about stuff like Cold Front, Breakdown (Plus Minus-era), and late Fit of Anger, etc. Long live the [Crown of Thornz, Breakdown guitarist] Mike Dijan rifforama style!"

Blvd of Death's Hell is Full of Good Intentions EP is available now via Edgewood Records and Till Deaf Recordings on Bandcamp.

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