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THE REVIEW
A violent album. These words would be enough to give an idea of "Germi." When I think of this album, the first image that comes to mind is Agnelli harming someone just for the pleasure of doing it. What emerges from these fourteen tracks is the rage and frenzy of a band that has finally achieved success, the madness of three friends capable of turning every reckless action into genius. "Germi" arrives at a moment of grace for the Afterhours, in 1995, when they reach a stable lineup with Manuel Agnelli, Xabier Iriondo, and Giorgio Prete, three guys from gray and gloomy Milan who will irreversibly set the stages of a dormant Italy on fire.
In "Germi," psychedelia and hard rock, heavy guitars and narcotic noise, decadent poetics and outrageous lyrics coexist, often incomprehensible and wonderfully disturbing, built with that ingenious technique that is "Cut-Up," capable of gifting the charm of randomness and chaos. Irony, violence, contempt, and dirty sex are just some of the flames burning in Agnelli's hell. Perhaps Afterhours are not yet at their peak, but they are getting there by kicking and punching, taking this album around Italy, dressing as little girls and abusing anything that comes their way. This is rock in its purest form. Going through the songs is a pointless and tedious task, but masterpieces like "Plastilina," "Dentro Marilyn," "Ossigeno," and "Strategie" cannot go unmentioned, indelible monuments in the hearts of those who had the fortune to enjoy those moments live, at their peak of splendor.
This infectious band will record other masterpieces, but it is in this album that they gave the fullest expression to their restless, self-destructive nature. It's time to stop considering Afterhours as one of the best bands in Italian rock, because I believe they can easily enter the international rock pantheon; they have nothing to envy compared to more illustrious and famed names by a too snobbish, narrow-minded, and provincial critique, incapable of recognizing home-grown masterpieces and obsessively searching for English-speaking bands to compare to the Velvet Underground.
Fot..ti giovane coglione, il mio sguardo è Santità.
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Summary by Bot
Afterhours' 1995 album Germi is a violent, raw expression of the band's rage and genius, combining psychedelia, hard rock, and chaotic lyrics. This album captures a crucial moment when the band achieved a stable lineup and artistic breakthrough. Though challenging to navigate at times, Germi features unforgettable tracks that cement their place in Italian rock history. The review argues Afterhours deserve international recognition beyond Italy’s narrow scene.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Afterhours
Afterhours is an Italian alternative rock band from Milan led by Manuel Agnelli, active since the mid-1980s and widely cited as influential in the Italian indie/alternative scene.52 Reviews
Other reviews
By nadir
Germi shifts the boundaries of new Italian music with an album that is not Italian at all.
The result is the greatest Italian rock album of all time, an absolute paradigm for future generations.
By Bleak
"Germi is their first album in Italian and the first in a long series of small masterpieces."
"The album is a kind of germ that it is impossible to forbid from reproducing in the mind of those who listen to it, a virus you will be happy to be infected by."
By DDQ
Afterhours can be considered, without remorse, one of the best rock bands in Italian music history.
Music and lyrics manage to almost perfectly alternate moments of wild rock fury with ethereal ballads that are venomous, acidic, never mellifluous or affected.
