Afterhours
Hai paura del buio?

THE REVIEW

The name Manuel Agnelli is immediately associated with the talent show X-Factor today, where he is one of the judges, but this is truly a colossal injustice; without detracting from the aforementioned TV show, Manuel is first and foremost a magnificent artist, a great singer, a true genius. The undisputed leader of Afterhours from 1986 to today, the only member always present from the beginning (the band, however, will undergo numerous reshuffles over the years), it is not an exaggeration to say that without him, the band would have no reason to exist. After the beginnings where they struggled to find their identity, despite some flashes of great talent that began to be seen as early as their first work "All the good Children go to Hell" (especially in the stunning "Billie Serenade"), there comes at a certain point the great revolution, the transition to Italian lyrics, a courageous choice and against the trend in those years (we are talking about 1995), which, as if by magic, unleashed all the talent of Manuel & Co, as if all that goodness had been imprisoned for years and suddenly found itself free to unleash. The band's first album in Italian, "Germi," already releases great emotions, even though it still partly overlaps with the previous "Pop kills your soul," the last sung in English, with most of the songs from this last album being rearranged in our mother tongue. In my opinion, it is precisely with "Hai paura del buio?" that the band finds its ultimate consecration and artistic maturity, the true transformation from caterpillar to butterfly; they offer a raw and gritty sound that seems tossed there by chance, giving the impression that every song on this album was recorded on the first try, without any honing and no studio rehearsals. It is precisely this seemingly ramshackle and chaotic mix of sounds that slowly captures and conquers you; the riffs seem thrown there without much care, yet by listening closely, you come to realize how grand this work is. Manuel's performance is truly of the highest level; he is now fully in command of his immense qualities and leads this double album with great mastery. As previously mentioned, "Hai paura del buio?" is a double album; at first listens, it seems almost endless, but then you learn to appreciate it from the first to the last note. The tracks are almost all entirely different from each other, even in genre; it's hard to choose preferences, although in my case, I find it hard not to recall "Male di miele" (which will become one of the fans' most appreciated songs over the years), "Voglio una pelle splendida," and "Punto G"; this last song personally drives me crazy, it starts as an unbearable groan, a slow and continuous, incessant and insistent lullaby that slowly enters your being, truly ingenious. Twenty tracks in total, not to be missed, in my opinion the most convincing work of ours, but without taking anything away from the others. For nine years, Afterhours have not gifted us any new releases, except for the live "Noi siamo Afterhours," let’s hope the latter is not the swan song.