Release
Date: 7 Nov 2025
Format: LP/CD/Digital
Genre: Hardcore
Country: Italy
217 started in Pescara in 2018 with the ambition
to unite old-school hardcore shaped by Slapshot and
Judge with thrash roots inspired by The Haunted and Slayer.
After a series of shows and a first European run, the band released the EP
“Atheist Agnostic Rationalist” through Indelirium
Records in 2019, a small pressing that moved fast inside the Italian
hardcore circuit. The pandemic forced them to pause, then a line-up shift shook
the project in 2020, although they never issued a breakup. In 2024 the band
returned as a four-piece and began writing the material that would become their
debut album. Their influences spread wider now, from classic American hardcore
to mid nineties new school and even the darker edges of alternative rock,
giving the band a broader voice.
“In Your
Gaze” marks the return of a band that clearly spent years sharpening their
style. The core remains rooted in American hardcore traditions, straight from
the lineage of Cro-Mags, Slapshot and Snapcase,
although the band opens the gates to thicker, gloomier textures inspired by Bauhaus, My Dying
Bride and Sisters Of Mercy. This
combination gives the album a restless personality, one moment swinging toward
punchy hardcore, the next sliding into something darker and dreamlike.
Lyrically
the album walks through grief, loss and the messy corners of human behaviour.
The writing touches on personal collapse, the weight of capitalism on
relationships and the struggle to hold on to identity while everything around
you twists for profit. The band uses this theme as a thread between songs,
turning different stories into one larger narrative about survival inside a
world that eats its own people.
The
production stays rough around the edges, which suits the band’s roots. Nothing
comes across as too polished once the album gets going. The guest appearance of Kate in “Pit Is Not A Crime” adds a sharp
turn and gives the album a moment where the energy spikes again before dropping
into darker territory. Their cover of “Hood Crew” pays respect to Growing Concern and reinforces where the band’s
heart lies.
The album
lands just above average. It shows ambition and a strong identity, although
some ideas could have used a bit more shaping. Still, “In Your Gaze” presents a
band that refuses to play it safe. They return to the scene with a work that
mixes aggression with gloom and personal storytelling with a sense of restless
exploration. It is a solid first full-length, built with commitment and clear
intent, and it places 217 back into motion
for whatever comes next.
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