Hybris

Yes :P I mean no. But if you look at the live performances, well, they’ve done over 1000 across four continents...

Being able to respond directly to Pierpaolo from here is a pleasure, especially because I think I misunderstood you a bit and you misunderstood me... in short, I’m the kind of person who feels this way: I hate myths and personifications, and that’s why I got angry reading people saying "Capovilla is a genius, a genius," "You haven't heard things like this in Italy for ten years," "It's ROCK ITALIAN," and things like that when the praises for the latest Zu album could be counted on one hand (and maybe even fewer). It's that regional pride (the kind that says "it's ROCK ITALIAN!") that annoys me like the myth-making above and made me boil over; it's one of the things I really can't stand. Then the fact that mainstream culture in Italy is based on catchy tunes doesn't seem like an endemic phenomenon to me... it's true that on a national cultural level we might still be in the third world compared to other countries, but we're not living in a world apart from anyone; it's about time we understood this, right? Even in France, Germany, Scandinavian countries, etc., there are bands that sing in their mother tongue and bands that sing in English; even in the rest of the world, there are groups that remain famous only on a national level (perhaps for cultural reasons), and even in the rest of the world there is a mainstream music market scene (like Sanremo – just talking about music with Sanremo, Sanremo is a music market... and perhaps in this light, those who go there trying to propose music should be praised, but for me, the 'market' remains distant from my idea of music and its enjoyment) of catchy songs and disinterest in substance. Then you can always find ways and means to enjoy the music you like in your preferred way, and maybe that’s what we should focus on.
P.S. Regarding the "poor hybris" issue, I thank you for the support; how would I manage without you! A shout-out to Aunt Rachele :P [IRONY ON, please]
P.P.S. The captcha for this comment is BEEEE. Fantastic.

Nah, it's noisy electronics made based on 'errors' (glitches, precisely) generated both intentionally and often unintentionally by music-making software.

I'm sorry, but this time I have to swim against the tide. Capovilla seems to me anything but a figure who has 'rehabilitated' the Italian underground scene... first of all, if (rightly but not entirely) so many great bands have emerged lately and we can finally set aside both foreign and local discussions, well I believe this is not the merit of a few chosen ones (like the one here present) but of all those people, those musicians, those labels et similia (some names? Zu, Supernatural Cat, Wallace, Malleus... but they are really just the first ones that came to mind) who have worked hard and are still working tirelessly to carry on such a discourse in a third-world-friendly country like Italy... and Capovilla doesn’t mention anyone, he simply says 'there are many beautiful things, some interesting, others boring,' and then starts again with the usual anti-foreign discourse that ends up being localist and we find ourselves in the same situation as before.
Even the discourse that always sounds new and brave about 'going against the majors' is just talk. It seems like listening to someone with a teenage idea of the underground, and I’m not saying that all of us underground bands [speaking from personal experience] would like to be in major labels. I’m saying that, as far as I'm concerned, the underground and the majors, especially for these hard and/or experimental sounds, are separated by a water-tight compartment, without having to give up the professionalism that unfortunately in Italy often only pertains to a few labels and doesn’t extend either to clubs, which are often still tied to rather outdated ideas about how to manage a live club, nor to the audience; and while these underground labels are working hard to create a real musical culture worthy of the name at a local level. Then Capovilla comes along and puffs up his chest saying that for two years they have worked hard with Teatro degli Orrori, when any underground band, not just in Italy but worldwide, has to sell their soul and work their ass off for at least two or three years, if not more, to then gain a minimum chance to play and a minimal recognition of their efforts.
To sum up, I’m not saying that things are bad in Italy, that things are better abroad, that Capovilla is a sellout, or anything else. I'm simply saying that something very powerful is moving in the musically underground Italy and is also recognized internationally (for example, Ufomammut were invited by Neurosis to this year's Beyond the Pale) and we shouldn’t start building statues to anyone, because that anyone might be capable of keeping quiet and taking these heaps of merits that he might have, but only partially... because these changes are (fortunately) mainly the merit of the collective of people who, perhaps with different or even opposing desires, have worked their asses off to change a situation that was unsatisfactory to them. And there’s still a lot to be done...
P.S. Capovilla signed up for RateYourMusic just to give five stars and leave a huge and highly laudatory review for his album
P.P.S. nothing personal, eh
P.P.P.S. sorry for the rant

Don't worry, sooner or later I will find a record to put all the genres on, my treasure!

I’m responding now to all those who say, "the album comes out in a month and a bit!" (a perfectly valid criticism, by the way). Obviously, if I’ve listened to it now, it means I’ve obtained it through unofficial means, but the fact remains that as a fan of Zu for the past two years (you might notice my old review of igneo), I had decided to buy this album once it was released, a decision I made pretty much as soon as our guys announced they had started working on a new album. However, I admit it: the temptation was irresistible, but as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t revoked the decision I made some time ago—in fact, now I have a thousand more reasons to buy the album, and I hoped to provide you with just as many!

Eggrazzie! I hope that the tirade about the power plant lights doesn’t unleash me against the indie-masses of Italy.

graphic art.

"And I also discovered that in Italy there are people who can make good metal music (or to be honest, it would be crossover)." Failed just for this sentence.

EH I want it