Deca
Lucifero Alchemico

THE REVIEW

For many years, we have heard musicians and bands adorn their music with the adjective "alternative" without actually having the right to do so. Alternative to what? Everything, in theory, can be alternative to something else. In terms of music, to be truly alternative, it is necessary to create something that assumes a decentralised position compared to everything else. Music that transcends genres, is not labelable, and is not tied to any fashion or trend. Music that is recognizable as such but impossible to precisely affiliate with any trend. Much less to any specific author.

When I listen to albums like "Lucifero Alchemico," I think there is a lot that is alternative here. Starting from the structure of the pieces, the way the sounds blend together, to the power of suggestion that translates into music what I see on the (beautiful, elegant) cover. And while perceiving within this four-movement magma roots that traverse centuries of sound culture... baroque, symphonic, twelve-tone, noise, electronic, shamanic, minimalist, and so on... in the end, it is practically impossible to define this album.

Alchemy and Luciferianism are the distinctive note that gives the imprint to this admirable work, the fifteenth - if I'm not mistaken - of the illustrious composer from Liguria, who is now the absolute master of his artistic fiefdom. Forty-five minutes of deep immersion into another dimension that oscillates between hell and paradise, tracing an ideal initiatory path in which from the dark abyss of earthly existence, one reaches enlightenment through the process of death and resurrection. A lot of alchemy that is well suited to the free experimentation with sound, a distinctive element of Deca's talent, not for nothing known for a long time as the "sound alchemist."

Among the tracks, there are various digressions that make each piece a treasure chest containing other pieces, other cues. The music flows between unsettling, almost horror-like moments and long cosmic phases that internalize the most sinister vibrations and render them a visionary dream. Cavernous voices pronounce arcane formulas, abominable orchestras emerge from the abyss only to give way to tremors of alien instruments that occasionally open up breaches of disarming beauty. Those familiar with kosmische and industrial productions can grasp at times reminiscences of many other bands (from Current 93 to Tangerine Dream), but it is impossible to find a truly traced groove. "Lucifero Alchemico" has an autonomy all its own. It is a symphony of the psyche, the subconscious, something that drags you away from the real world while describing it in all its brutal violence and its unknowable paradox.

Deca has this characteristic: being a true musician with solid theoretical, classical, and traditional foundations (a skilled pianist, among other things) and never having conformed, taking the liberty to experiment in every direction without observing any "rule" and often venturing into extreme territories. Something that few in today's scene can afford because many extreme experimenters lack foundations, and conversely, many well-prepared musicians do not dare and often disdain.