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Rating: Already upon its release in '96, the third album by CSI presented itself as a classic.
The Linea gotica that gives the title to the work is above all a conceptual place (that of free will), becoming the pineal gland that connects the historical, ethical, and political meanings of the album.
Thus motivated in the album is the presence of an indictment against the errors of the church (Millenni), of Io e Tancredi (a piece that exalts the animal as a master of life for man), and of Sogni e sintomi, a desperate prayer to dreams to bring comfort and answers in a difficult and incredible reality. But the invocation to dreams is destined to remain unanswered: already in the first track, Cupe vampe, the heartbreaking finale with the distorted violin (superimposed on Ferretti’s invectives) leaves no room for hopes of escaping evil. The only path to existence becomes that of reconciliation with the carcinogenic precariousness of the modern world, and it emerges in the monumental Esco (“... it is instability that makes us steady in the daily uprootings...”).
War is therefore a conceptual topos, but the CSI do not forget the terrible pain of real wars: hence the presence of Cupe vampe and Blu. The album is completed by the disorienting cover of Battiato (E ti vengo a cercare), the struggling and delicate psychedelia of L’ora delle tentazioni (which sings of the guilt of living one’s sexuality in a Catholic world), and the unforgettable Linea Gotica, which summarizes the sense of the work: despite ideologies collapsing we cannot shirk from taking a stand, from getting our hands dirty. In closing, there is the suffered and desolate bitterness of Irata, where we find modern man definitively lost in a world with no past or future left.
Remember? Freedom is a form of discipline / never like now…
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Esco (07:05)
memoria parla consolante
succedono le età
succedono le età meravigliose
che non c'è età assoluta
altro vi fu e sarà e quanto
e in quale forma
succedono le età
succedono le età meravigliose
che non c'è età assoluta
altro vi fu e sarà e quanto
e in quale forma
qui la luce si ritrae e l'aria è satura dall'eco di lamenti
scorteccio le parole
aride schegge secche adatte al fuoco
è l'instabilità che ci fa saldi ormai
negli sradicamenti quotidiani
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Other reviews
By ayeye
From the very first listen, I was stunned: musically, they are brilliant and this album fully proves it.
A special mention goes to Lindo Ferretti's voice, which is wonderful and always manages to stir emotions.
By blu
"Linea Gotica is a difficult, intense, painful record, but also radiant and fascinating."
"An album to strongly discourage anyone who considers music a mere diversion, a harmless pastime."
By David Bowie
Few Italian albums are so genuine and intense as 'Linea Gotica.'
Ferretti’s bitter lyrics and Massimo Zamboni’s vitriolic solo seem to simulate the burning of the library of Sarajevo, millennia in paper lost forever.
By magico vento
"Maintain a proper distance from this album if you are looking for easy refrains or swirling guitar riffs, but anyone in need of emotions can immerse themselves in the listening of this CD."
"It’s an album made of words, words, words... to live!!!"
By STIPE
Any sentence, any word, would diminish this album, its beauty cannot be described.
Linea Gotica is an album of electrified guitars. Ultimately this is the sound of our time, as detestable as this time and sound may be.
