Modena City Ramblers
Onda libera

The burning question:

Is there anyone in the web world who has ears connected to the brain and enough courage to say that "Onda Libera," the latest effort by MCR - Modena City Ramblers, is pathetic?

At least relatively, compared to the band's past.

If it were a debut album from any formation, a "Well... good?" might slip out without applause, but with dignity and a question mark. Considering it's from MCR who had released stuff like "La Grande Famiglia" and, albeit with reservations, "Viva la vida muera la muerte," this release is a letdown. Forget about combat folk and resistance, here the only thing to fight is the impulse to switch to the most crude "Califfo" to regain vigor and endure to "drink up" with the ears the bitter chalice to the bottom in order to review in knowledge and conscience.

Predictable melodies. A banal concept. The usual worn-out poetic armory (those gypsies children of the wind have worn out the thing that rhymes with field pea!), moderately fast tracks yet still boring alternated with weary dirges lacking in strength and spirit that sound like a Branduardi under benzodiazepines, such as Il mulino e il tuo giardino, or Valzer chiuso in soffitta (which is more Endrigo—the current one, i.e., dead). Two anesthetic trips that only a feebleminded person could call ballads. 

Better the cover and "Libera Terra," but oh well. It isn’t like a couple of politically correct and committed hooks are enough to redeem a lack of ideas that is showing threadbare. Sounds that have long been the domain of definitively more creative groups like Orchestra Bailam or sacred monsters who still do it better and have for years. In short, zero novelty.

I think the bottom is definitely reached with "C’è ancora tanto": the demonstration of how one can craft an instrument of sound torture by mechanically applying lyrics to a monotonous drumbeat, methodically ignoring natural rhythms and accents, crushing and squeezing words on the obsessive drumming like on a torture rack. The next track, "Libera mente" is in turn a badly executed Ferrettata, obviously lacking the mystical voice of the late (in life) Giovanni Lindo, but it flatly echoes "Fuochi nella notte di San Giovanni" and the worst of Subsonica. Oh Lord, stuff for professionals.

Definitely better, also because it was hard to do worse, "La Ballata della dama bianca," more sincere in setup and pleasant. Especially in the final crescendo. Too bad it then crashes back under ether with the lullaby "L'uomo nel suo castello," whose salvation seems to be only in the base until you realize that in certain passages it’s a re-chewing of "Il vecchio e il bambino" by Guccini. In short... you liked it but not because it was something original of their own.