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Rating: After great successes like "Elisir" and "Wakan" and almost three years of waiting, Massimo Claus returns to the music scene with another album rich in spirituality and influences, entirely dedicated to the Lotus Sutra.
"Diamonds of Sutra" is a mystical album, starting with the language used for the lyrics: to reach the pinnacle of spirituality and mysticism, Claus has taken up the 'shindoku', a Japanese word meaning 'language of faith', thanks to which the Sutras (the Buddhist teachings) have come down to the present day.
With the skill that distinguishes him, Massimo Claus in this album gives yet another proof of his talent, managing to merge the ancient sounds of a language no longer in use with the modern sounds of electronic and chillout music.
An example of this can be the track "Ari Nari Tonari" in which the recitation of the famous Tibetan mantra Om mani Padme Hum is used as a base for the recitation of magical formulas with ancient origins, accompanied by drums, guitars, and mandolin, in a crescendo of voices and instruments that engage the listener and almost become a tarantella.
Another example can be the track "Jigage", in which an entire chapter of the Lotus Sutra is recited in Shindoku or "Medicine Buddha", the track that closes the CD, which seems to bid farewell to the listener through the voices of Tibetan monks reciting mantras dedicated to the famous Medicine Buddha, to whom, in the Tibetan tradition, one turns to "heal and enhance one's own and others' healing abilities, but also to overcome the inner ailments of affection, anger, and ignorance" on a melody worthy of one of the most important and esteemed musicians of the current Italian music scene.
Like all of Massimo Claus's albums, "Diamonds of Sutra" requires a deeper listen for the internalization of the pieces and for a greater understanding of the motivations that lead an artist like him to create jewels of this caliber, which escape the mainstream, but are extremely interesting from a musical point of view, because each note is carefully chosen and each musical phrase is designed for a specific reason.
Certainly, Massimo Claus, precisely for his compositional ability, the brilliance of his choices, and the precision of his works, could be compared to giants like Mike Oldfield or Peter Gabriel, if only for the fact that he is 'self-sufficient' and does not have millionaire record labels behind him to provide ultra-professional recording studios with technicians and all that entails.
His CDs are entirely conceived, played, and recorded by him: despite this, listening to each of his albums, it's hard to believe they were not recorded in studios like those of the big labels.
Listening to this CD as well, it becomes immediately clear that Massimo Claus has not lost, but indeed has increased his extreme instrumental and compositional versatility and his sound engineering skills: the sound is, in fact, clean and well-crafted, and the instruments mixed perfectly, with the right volumes, to the point that perhaps only with a 5.1 stereo system is it possible to grasp the different nuances and all the sounds composing the various tracks.
Also noteworthy is the price chosen for sale on digital stores, which does not exceed 10 €.
I recommend this album not only to those who love Eastern philosophies but especially to those who love good music and research.
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