Franco Battiato
Ferro Battuto

THE REVIEW

‘Ferro Battuto' (exceptional already for the title) is yet another artistic piece from this singer-songwriter and composer capable of ranging across different genres, as well as a refined creator of slow and transcendental lyrics and melodies. This album is no less in his discography.

The opening ‘running against the rain' starts with a brilliant melody punctuated by a bass and guitar groove, and disco effects, while the lyrics are customarily erudite, scientific, and fantastic; resonant and happily married with the melody that quickens with every measure. 'Bist du bei mir' is also beautiful, the initial keyboard melody plays 'suspended' and perpetuated notes, and the lyrics find their brilliance here in the apparent or real illogical gibberish sacrificed for the metric; I also enjoyed the chorus which I believe is in German. I quote some lines: ‘The light dazzled my senses like in a Monet painting, while summer preyed on young Gesualdo. A mambo echoes in the cavea and the world simply spins, on the edge of a cliff you now invite me to play.‘

Next, ‘La quiete dopo un addio' in my opinion the most beautiful on the album starts slowly with violins and a distorted sample, crazy lyrics that gradually culminate in a change of rhythm: ‘Another storm will come, it will be summer again, and its colors will explode on the streets...Rising mountains, from the waters the bays of inconsistency will appear / the valleys of incoherence to overcome this boredom of living / take whatever you want from your suspended gardens in the soul'....Absurdly well cadenced which Franco manages to sing magnificently despite his accent. ‘Personalità empirica' is not spectacular, not in itself, but as it has been heard before from the same author, interesting philosophical and introspective lyrics, repeated by a woman in French. ‘Il cammino interminabile' is equally interesting in its lyrics this time in Sicilian dialect, with a melody on xylophone bass harpsichord and excellent lyrics.

‘Lontananze d'azzurro' is the slowest song on the album, with more logical lyrics. ‘Hey joe' also covered by Hendrix, features Franco’s seemingly amateurish English pronunciation here accompanied by violins; whereas ‘Sarcofagia' is the other episode I find interesting in its schizophrenic yet animalistic lyrics, which I quote again: 'How can the sight bear it, the killing of beings that are slaughtered and torn apart, doesn’t it disgust the taste to drink its juices and blood, the raw meats on skewers—and there was like a sound of cows, isn’t it monstrous to wish to eat, a being that still emits sounds..' followed by ‘Scherzo in minore' performed by trumpet, sentimental and surreal as well as misanthropic lyrics. The album closes with ‘il potere del canto', where the samples are joined by a guitar groove; lyrics very far from meaning but interesting and impactful in some verses.

This phase is strongly experimental, not only in the lyrics but also in the music which features groovy and dance samples, also praiseworthy for the cadence and for the soft and suspended atmosphere.