Afterhours
Pop Kills Your Soul

Rage. Dirtiness of sound.

This is what oozes when listening to Pop Kills Your Soul, which would be the second official album of the band led by Emanuele Agnelli (at the time he still went by that name). This record is fantastic, and at the time of its release, the authorized magazines rated it as a masterpiece within the alternative music sector.

The album opens with a fantastic trilogy: "Pop Kills Your Soul" which is very invasive with a nice chorus and a very powerful solo; in short, the start of the album isn't bad; then we move on to "Come Inside," which is a more aggressive track compared to the previous one and where you can start to hear the screams of singer Emanuele; the opening trio closes with "Oxygen," which at first isn't very fast but then in the chorus gives us the hysterical screams of the frontman and a very interesting guitar riff. "On Time" also has a very interesting riff, and the song is based on this riff, very calm, not too calm but engaging and enjoyable to listen to. "Living On The Land Of Sweetener" is the most aggressive track heard so far; the song seems to have something of Rage Against The Machine, with the singer almost "rapping" during the verse, a very interesting, very fast, and extremely furious track!! "Coalition" is the longest track on the album and starts calmly, flat, then the guitars become heavier, the track isn't fast, the singer's voice is still always angry and pleasant just right. "Terry Fill Me Up" is a pretty tough song with a convincing start and chorus, and this too can be considered another masterpiece of the Milanese group. Then it's "Hey Bulldog," which at first refers to "Come Inside," but is actually a cover of the Beatles... the result is extraordinary because the group manages to make the song their own, which blends well with the rest of the tracks, truly a nice experiment, and moreover, a successful one! "Compromise Is Going To Kill Me Baby" has an interesting drum and bass start, the chorus is really nice thanks to the drums, and you can also hear a bass solo while the singer sings "hey hey hey baby"... "Slush" is tasked with closing the album; "Slush" opens with an acoustic guitar plus Emanuele's voice, the track seems very sweet but the singer's voice is, as always, angry, the chorus is fantastic, and the gloom, rage, and all the "blackness" of this fantastic group get inside you and "Slush" is perfect for the closing credits...

In short, we are really faced with a fantastic album, which anticipates by two years the change of direction taken by the group and the release of the album Germi, which will shock the geography of rock music in Italy: rock is neither Vasco nor Ligabue, rock is them, the Afterhours, but that's another story...