Voto:
At the time, I happened to read the discussion, but I got a bit fed up and preferred not to intervene. Now I’m able to share my opinion. I’ll quote a little from everyone, and no one should take it the wrong way; there’s no malice. Now I know that the value of a band is measured based on... the songs? No, no. The musical journey? Not at all! Consistency? Even less so. It’s all about the fans. Therefore, since that band has lousy fans, the band itself automatically becomes crap because... it seeks them out. I can imagine Capovilla, with a lantern and a cigarette, capturing stupid fifteen-year-olds fresh out of the Arctic Monkeys incubator. How far behind I am! Ignorantia mea. We revolutionized rock: more power to fans! Then I find out that, almost a year later, the album "A Sangue Freddo," once praised and blessed by many, is now considered trash. And why? Because it’s “banal from top to bottom, complete with ‘you’ll pay dearly, you’ll pay everything.’” The first one, on the other hand, is rated “a colossal record,” especially with the peaks of “everything’s okay, everything’s okay, there’s a war but it’s all okay.” Very interesting. And paradoxical. This is called, in my book, a morbid attachment to the idols of one’s youth: American post-core ramped up, and little more. Clearly, that “little more” makes the Empire a record for a desert island, but when a substantial shift in numbers occurs, then... heaven opens up. The broader the spectrum of influences, the worse it seems. It’s the same reasoning that the indie kids you so despise make. We’re talking about not loving compromises, but on which grounds does "A Sangue Freddo," precisely, bend? Some lyrics are weak: true, because there is also much less citation-ism, and the same amount of theatricality. Musically? Aside from the title track, what is really “commercial” (how funny)? So if some idiots come close to the band with the enthusiasm of those who have discovered the golden fleece, it’s the band’s fault? Criticism that would have rained down anyway if the second album had been a copy of the first. Summing it all up, we return to the old, sad discourse of “they sell, therefore nothing”: I hope not only that they sell more and more, since they deserve it after all this hard work, but that they enter the hearts of more and more people and topple a few dragons; it would be time. No one deserves it more than they do. Then personal envy comes into play, but one must admit that. The visibility issue: how funny, again. TDO goes on TV, and so what? How many know that One Dimensional Man recorded concerts for Rock TV in 2004? That four years earlier they appeared on MTV? And now the Teatro becomes, however, a monster. Finally, the lineup: you’d prefer Ragno Favero, right? I hope you saw a concert with the previous lineup. Capovilla stumbling on stage completely gone, and musicians unable to hit a single note for twenty minutes of warm-up and missed notes (when it went well), including our dear bassist. Manzan and Mantelli may be more in the background, but, it must be said, they don’t screw up anything. The Capo has cut back on the liters of beer and holds a concert from start to finish, vocally as well. Then if it’s convenient for you to spend €10 or more for a live performance where the beginning is little more than an indistinguishable yet passionate noise jam, I say it’s your problem; the passion from the new songs comes through as much or more than before. Only now, compared to before, the money is in the mix, which sometimes clouds judgment. I’ve interviewed Pierpaolo four times and I admit that these comments, so harsh towards him and the band, if they don’t bother him, have soured me a bit: it’s, above all, a lack of personal consideration that can’t stand up to the pure and simple excuse of a “failed shift.” Beyond One Dimensional Man and various Imperi Delle Tenebre.
