Having been active since 2007, Italy’s Stormo have been an active part of the European screamo scene for a good while. In that time, the band has released five albums and played shows with heavyweights such as Converge and Birds in Row alongside bringing their hard hitting sound to venues across the globe, including a headlining slot at 2025’s Reality Unfolds Festival at London’s New Cross Inn.
Equally known for their DIY ethics as they are for their uncompromising blend of screamo and hardcore, Stormo have set up their own label ANFISIBENA to release their latest EP Songi Che Invadono il Cielo, a release that continues to push the band’s sound forwards whilst continuing to remain true to themselves.
Sonically, this EP sees the band adding more sounds and textures to their rock solid foundations, utilising the atmosphere of post rock and the blastbeats of black metal where needed to further layer their frantic assault. This is best utilised on third track ‘Estuari’ which starts with an atmospheric intro sounding like a cross between Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Portrayal of Guilt. The song builds up gradually with vocalist Luca Rocco’s emotive screams accompanying the swirling and eerie sounding guitars just ten seconds shy of the one-minute mark. Then, with little to no warning, the track explodes into a chaotic wall of sound a little over halfway through the song before reverting back to the comparatively mellow atmosphere of the intro right at the end to bring the song full circle.
Songi Che Invadono il Cielo’s greatest strength is how dynamic it sounds. No two songs sound alike, and the band also knows when to take the foot off of the full frontal assault and let the tracks breathe to allow listeners to soak in the atmosphere. From the no nonsense, all guns blazing opening track ‘Gesti’ that sounds like Birds in Row playing a Deafheaven song, to the more ambient noise rock of closing track “Isole” via the aforementioned ‘Estuari’, variety is certainly not something that Stormo are lacking in within this collection of songs.
The one constant within the EP bridging these varying soundscapes together is the emotional and soul crushing screams of Luca Rosso. Across all six tracks, he never lets up on his passion and, much like all great bands within the genre, you can really hear the pain and passion in his voice as he screams over the other instruments at both their most ferocious and their most delicate. The fact that all the lyrics are in the band’s native Italian are not a deterrent to this as the emotion of the tracks is something that can be felt without fully understanding the roots of the pain.
With Songi Che Invadono il Cielo, Stormo have pushed their music into new territory whilst not completely removing the core of what has kept listeners coming back to the band since their inception nearly two decades ago. It’s just under twenty minutes of bliss for anyone who has a passion for music that is loud, aggressive, and introspective, and will have you waiting with anticipation for whatever Stormo have up their sleeves next.