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LA RECENSIONE
The Linea 77 return with a bang, finally landing on a major label after their tumultuous past with Earache (a label dedicated to sounds very different from what our band had been proposing in their previous albums "Numb" and "Available for propaganda") and more determined than ever to gather followers even within national borders, after having made themselves known at the dawn of their career mostly abroad.
For their new work, nothing is left to chance: from the production (by Toby Wright, who boasts names like Metallica and Slayer in his resume) to the choice of songs sung in Italian (6 out of 11) up to the excellent collaborations (with Tiziano Ferro), everything indicates the will to gain a spot under the sun on the much disparaged Italian soil.
The album opens with "The Sharp sound of blades", a classic song in the Linea's style which is enjoyable to listen to although it does not bring any particular changes to the band's musical proposal; changes start to be felt with the second track "Sempre Meglio": slapped bass and stopped guitars (in full "Potato Music Machine" style, although the production difference is quite noticeable) serve as a base on which Emo and Nitto scream their slogans into the mic like J Ax or Cippa in their prime, resulting in a piece as enjoyable as it is capable of granting the band the infamous "two minutes of immortality" if put in heavy rotation on MTV and the like.The opening of the following "Grotesque" closely resembles the System of a Down of Toxicity and introduces another good piece sung in English, while the next "Il Mostro" is nothing less than the classic single with a "nu-metal in Italian sauce" flavor (from "Fantasma" to "Evoluzione"), as always characterized by an extremely high commercial potential, this time even higher than usual thanks to a truly killer chorus destined to wreak havoc live.
The fifth track and 2nd single "Sogni Risplendono" features the much-discussed collaboration with Tiziano Ferro, but in practice translates into a classic Linea piece with an overdubbed second vocal line: beyond the media impact of the operation and the resentment one might feel towards the character, the impression is that the vocal talents of Tiziano could have been used in a much better way.
With "My Skeleton", the English singing returns for a really well-executed piece that manages to detach from the classic nu-metal frameworks to which the band has accustomed us so far, as well as being particularly distinctive is the following "Penelope", a kind of ballad where the Italian language fits well with vaguely poetic inspired lyrics combined with a bittersweet flavored melody.
The language of Dante and Manzoni returns to take center stage in the rhythmic "Mi Vida", another song with a great two-voice chorus and particularly groovy, as well as the following "Overload", which is appreciated not only for the already praised qualities of the two singers, but also for Chinasky's excellent work on the guitars, not forgetting the valuable work in the rhythm section by Dade and Tozzo.
After a lot of great songs, the quality slightly drops towards the end: if "La Nuova Musica Italiana" is nothing but an ironic march that is frankly embarrassing in some ways (starting from the distorted version of Mameli's anthem), the closing track "Touch 2.0" neither adds nor subtracts from what has been heard so far, confirming the five from Turin with this new work among the best interpreters of the Italian nu-metal scene, understood, of course, in its most mainstream sense.
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Summary by Bot
Linea 77’s album Horror Vacui marks their major label debut with polished production and a mix of Italian and English lyrics. The band balances nu-metal aggression with accessible melodies, highlighted by collaborations such as with Tiziano Ferro. While a few tracks show flaws, the album solidifies their position as leading figures in the Italian nu-metal scene. The work is a confident and strategic effort to gain wider national recognition.Tracklist Videos
Linea 77
Linea 77 are a Turin-based Italian band commonly described in these reviews as operating between hardcore/metal crossover and nu-metal, with two vocalists (Emo and Nitto) and a noted rhythm section. Reviewers trace early momentum through albums like Too Much Happiness... Makes Kids Paranoid and Ketchup Suicide, discuss a commercial/mainstream turn around Numb and Available for Propaganda, and debate Horror Vacui’s polished production and collaborations. Later, 10 is presented as a self-correcting return with all-Italian lyrics.16 Reviews
Other reviews
By ludopucci
Massive respect to Mr. Wright - who, it is said, had Emo use the same microphone used by a certain Legend: Layne Stanley.
What no one has addressed is the compactness of the album, even superior to that of 'Ketchup Suicide'... there’s an impressive perfection of mixing and production at times.
By Deviljin
"All songs are the same and boring, even more flattened by a production almost like that of an Italian pop album."
"If this really is 'La nuova musica italiana,' then we are indeed in bad shape."
By marbas
'The album is full of energy and the lyrics of the songs (especially those in Italian) are very poetic and full of meaning.'
'The rhythm is engaging and not at all monotonous... in short, when it ends, you’ll want to replay it from the start.'
