Franco Battiato
Gommalacca

THE REVIEW

1998: Humanity, struck by the incurable and eternal disease of time, is inexorably approaching the gates of the Third Millennium, yet the clouds over the future seem far from clearing: technology and progress, with which man had dominated the planet until recently, have rebelled against the control of their creator, threatening the End of the World. The global population, subjugated by the powerful through hypnotic reality shows and deceptive advertisements, seems unwilling to notice what is happening around them. In the midst of this Apocalyptic End of Millennium, a voice rises, a solitary cry, an exasperated scream encapsulating all the disdain against the Contemporary Evil: "...Shock in my town, shock in my town, velvet underground..."; the voice crying in the wilderness, masterfully supported by the sound carpet of synth and bass, is that of Franco Battiato. Just this first track would be enough to make Gommalacca a stunning album. The middle part of the album, even if not always up to that visionary masterpiece, is still great work: through powerful riffs of distorted guitar ("Auto Da Fé", but especially "Il mantello e la spiga"), electronic experiments of refined taste ("Il ballo del potere") and slower pieces ("La Preda", "Casta Diva", "E' stato molto bello"), Battiato demonstrates with the class of great masters his ability to combine the most innovative musical trends with his peculiar philosophical vein. The common thread inspiring the various songs is that of time: past time, nostalgic memories from which to draw wisdom, fleeting glimpses of the line of life. The second shining jewel of Gommalacca is the final track, "Shakleton", the tale of the adventures of the eponymous bold captain, a psychocosmic catastrophe in the form of an authentic musical delusion rambling between slow melodies akin to liturgical celebrations and hammering, hallucinatory electronic rhythms. The conclusion is entrusted to a poem in German in which Battiato ventures into improbable warbles.

Through the most diverse sound experiments, he manages once again to create an intense, incisive album, a drop of wisdom in that sea of mediocrity that drowns the society of the Third Millennium.