Betty Poison
Poison For You

The first album of the Roman band Betty Poison (formerly Betty Ford Center, name change due to legal issues with the famous American clinic where stars rehabilitate) sees the light in February 2009. After an exciting EP, expectations are more than rewarded: an excellent work that earned the band three international tours, two in Europe and one in the United States, chosen twice as the opening act for Courtney Love and her new band Hole, and wanted as the soundtrack for a commercial of European Culture with an unreleased track titled "Time" where the special guest is Anton Perich, official photographer of Andy Warhol and the Factory.

The splendid retro cover perfectly celebrates the Betty mood: an elegant woman in an evening dress and pearl necklace, completely devastated while lying on a bed surrounded by alcohol and psychotropic drugs, set in a Victorian room as if it were a painting from the Belle Époque. Inside "Poison for you," there is everything: the gritty voice of frontwoman Lucia Rehab, a raw yet sparkling sound crafted in detail, excessively candid lyrics, the nineties and the two-thousands, sweat, poison, life, sweetness, and passion in abundance. Seventeen tracks for a debut album that appear like a collection of singles, among all this material there's nothing that seems like filler, and in general, with so many tracks, the risk is there.

The album is produced by Matteo Cifelli and preceded by the raging single "Psychovicious," which has a claustrophobic music video inspired by the Stockholm syndrome, where a sick relationship develops between victim and tormentor inside an asylum. The video, along with other tracks, was included in the DVD of the movie "Megiddo" distributed by 20th Century Fox. The track opens "Poison for you," followed quickly by other fierce tracks including "Slave," "It," "Fuck Twice," and still the ultimate anti-male anthem, the empty brains, "Paris Hilton up your ass," another excellent piece also accompanied by a video that depicts all the stereotypes of empty, flashy characters. The title track, on the other hand, is one of the most reflective moments, steeped in atmospheres of melancholic beauty with the frontwoman's unforgettable voice. A similar discourse for "Goodbye song." Again, distorted sounds and guitars in "Anna Nicole," a raw dream of wild sex with the late Anna Nicole Smith while listening to the lyrics: "Rape your tits and fuck your holes, I just wanna you to touch me 'cause we're frying... Anna I'm coming!" Followed by "Jill the ripper," "Suburban victims," "Kaminski," "Boogeyman" and arguably one of the best tracks of the lot, "The big noise," nasty and liberating like few current pieces around.

The dark "Silly pop song" (also accompanied by a breath-taking funereal video) concludes the dance, whispered and roaring, another anthem "Indie die" and the enthralling sweetness of the ballad "Senseless" which reads: "I don't think I'm special 'cause I'm a slut and sluts are just open holes."

An outstanding debut, a feast of rock, post-punk and rehabilitation that will soon have a follow-up with the new album. Enjoy their rehab.