Lento
Icon

The Lento, from Rome, with their debut Earthen got off to a strong start, released by Supernatural Cat which at the time was already a rising "luxury" label of the Italian post* niche. An album all in all enjoyable, well-written, well-played, well-recorded, but very dependent on the mothers Neurosis-Isis. Nothing wrong with that actually, the number of bands that more or less pedantically retrace these pioneers is innumerable, and here and there good works have also come out. The fact remains that in my opinion, it is difficult to surpass certain masters, especially years later when the novelty and visionariness of certain new sounds now belong to the past.

Our guys probably knew all this, and when they released this second studio album, Icon, they clearly changed the game. Losing a guitarist along the way, they streamlined the formula, eliminating the "post rockisms", constructing a sound where a more nervous riffing replaced the wall of sound, filled with odd times, shifted accents, extremely heavy and inspired riffs, a much more synthetic approach to songwriting which resulted in shorter, well-structured, and flowing tracks.

I'm not a fanatic of the aforementioned odd times, excessive contortions, but their approach to the material seemed novel to me from the start (but maybe I've missed some listens along the way and they've revisited things already done in this sense), because I don't hear people trying forcibly to make "crooked music", there's always a very particular sense of groove, which makes you want to move your head, follow the complex interweavings, instead of leaving a sense of bewilderment. In a monolithic album like this, the band surprisingly manages the tracklist well, succeeding in giving a certain variety, cadenced yes, but able to push the accelerator (without ever going overboard, in any case), giving different colors to riffs that share the same matrix. The more ambient-flavored interludes are also very fitting.

The result is an album that, thanks also to its restrained duration, remains very smooth, despite the absence of any kind of vocals. Moreover, the production, handled by Lento guitarist Lorenzo himself, now a semi-celebrity in Italy in the field (he managed all the recent productions of Ufomammut, for example), enhances the claustrophobia of the music, dry, lo-fi, and I personally adore how these cymbals sound.

A little anecdote that I find quite singular, it seems that in the finalization stage of the album, the master was sent to the guys at Supernatural Cat, who are actually members of Ufomammut, and they sent back the work saying they didn’t like it and therefore weren't willing to release it. There was a happy ending for our guys, who promptly found the interest of the German Denovali, a step I believe contributed to the growth of their fame in the European field, in my opinion, super deserved. I find it singular because if I listen to the last 2-3 releases of Ufomammut, they seem increasingly stale to me, without ideas, trying to endlessly recycle what they did in the first two albums, it's funny to see them reject a work of such caliber and freshness.. and funny that Lento were promptly replaced in the Supernatural Cat roster by Ovo, a project in my opinion of very questionable value.