"Crossover" is one of my least favorite names for a musical genre. Starting off as what happens when punks slow their music down and start to write heavier riffs in the style of contemporary thrash metal bands, the first crossover bands (D.R.I., S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies, etc) bridged the gap between two hostile audiences that were playing styles of music more similar to each other than either side of the fence would probably care to admit. D.R.I. and Suicidal both started off as a fast hardcore bands and S.O.D. contained both members of the NYHC and New York metal community.Crossover itself is useful for describing what these bands did for music rather than the actual music itself. If "Speak English or Die" were recorded by four guys with shaved heads and Agnostic Front tattoos, it would most likely be seen as an ultraheavy NYHC album as opposed to the penultimate crossover record. Instead the lineup consists of three guys with long hair who played in Anthrax. Since almost all metal bands since the NWOBHM movement (and many during said movement) were musically influenced by punk in some way or another, crossover as a term to describe a band's music quickly loses its meaning and instead becomes more of a descriptor of a cultural movement. Bands like Hellhammer, Slaughter, Repulsion, Slayer, Kreator, Sarcofago and Metallica all had a great deal of punk influence in their sound, aesthetic and attitude, but it would not make sense to call any crossover. Conversely, hardcore bands such as Sheer Terror, Breakdown, Deathside, and Tetsu Arrey had a heavier aesthetic, but it would also be erroneous to label them as anything other than firmly rooted in the hardcore scene.
Such is the case of Mondocane. Formed as a supergroup between two of Italy's best black/thrash bands, Necrodeath and Schizo (both logos are prominently featured on the album's cover), and named after some of Italy's most outrageous exploitation films, "Project One" is a manic thrash metal album which is constantly labelled as crossover for reasons which I am still rather unclear on. While Italy had a rather vibrant and large hardcore scene during the 1980s, "Project One" musically has nothing in common with what bands like C.C.M., Raw Power or Negazione were doing, nor were Schizo or Necrodeath in any related to the hardcore scene. If anything, Schizo's song "Nazi and Proud" featured on both of their first two demos would have alienated themselves from the Italian punks.
Both Necrodeath and Schizo started off releasing sloppy and nasty demos that are classics in the mid 80s black metal scene. By the time they were releasing full length albums they had tightened and cleaned up their sound, and instead sounded more like the heavy thrash which was typical of their German allies. Mondocane's sound isn't really that far off from a blend between both band's late 80s output; the vocals are delivered in the exact same fashion as "Main Frame Collapse", and many of the riffs would not be out of place on either album. The song structures alternate between hyperspeed, almost death metal in tone riffs and slower mosh oriented riffs typical of late 80s thrash bands. What separates this recording from the glut of bands doing similar things is the rather chaotic approach to composition; riffs are totally across the board and jump into one another without any sort of warning or attempt at clean flow. In the hands of lesser talented bands, this can come across as a mismatch or a bad cut and paste job, but here works in the bands favor in creating a breakneck and pummeling assault on the listener that never gets boring. The core of the band consists of three members, but all seven guys from both Necrodeath and Schizo eventually end up playing on the album in some form or another, which adds to the dynamic nature of these songs.
In comparison to both Necrodeath's and Schizo's late 80s albums, "Project One" has a rather slick and clean production job; the drums in particular sound extremely clean. Fortunately the band delivers an extremely energetic performance, and the more produced sound does not take away any of the aggressive elements of the Mondocane's music. The song titles would indicate a brand certain "wacky" thrash like Wehrmacht or Spazztic Blur, but fortunately the album is completely free of jokey musical passages. It is probably these song titles as well as the Exploited cover of "Fuck the U.S.A." (here changed to "Fuck the U.S.L." - about soccer?) which would lend to the miscategorization of this as crossover. While the Exploited cover is by far the most minimalistic song on the album, it still has a very metal feel to it, and fits in with the rest of the album quite nicely.
As far as I know, this has only been released on vinyl and has yet to be reissued by anyone, which is unfortunate as it would appeal to anyone into the heavier thrash bands in the 80s. Fans of Necrodeath or Schizo should especially take note, as this really does not deviate too far from what either band was doing, and it is clear from this recording that those guys had a lot of fun making some great heavy music together. Just don't expect this to sound like "Speak English or Die".
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