Ringo Deathstarr
Mauve

THE REVIEW

I read the other reviews of the "Ringo Deathstarr," and I was waiting for Core to review this new album by the Ringo, but nothing. I was secretly eager and couldn't wait any longer.

I can't say I'm in a Shoegaze phase, since Shoegaze is what I play too, and it's my prerogative to explore new sounds and atmospheres. However, these "Ringo Deathstarr" are light years ahead of me. "Colour Trip" was a great album, and the 4 stars Core gave it were well-deserved because, after this new album, it will be hard not to give them 5!

"Rip" opens the album with its distorted digressions, Alex's voice resonates in your head, the trip has started, and from here to track 4, we won't stop jumping; yes, because the daze is intense, but it's not the kind that makes you feel high in the middle of the room; it's the kind that makes you want to jump and thrash with a lot of Punk attitude.

"Burn," "Drain," and "Slack" propel the album forward, the use of tremolo is extremely high, and the distortions create the long-desired sonic wall, the sound seems similar to the debut work of My Bloody Valentine, meaning "Isn't Anything." I've compared them to "Feed Me With Your Kiss" but with modern production.

After this rhythmic and vibrant beginning, we reach the fifth track, "Brightest Star." This time we'll be "high" in the middle of the room, a dreamy song full of drones that sharply cuts the listening experience even with its 6 minutes; "Drag" follows it, Alex's sensual voice appears again mixed with a beautiful dream sound where a slight Eastern echo can be heard. "Fifteen," on the other hand, revisits the My Bloody Valentine of their second and more cited work, both in music and vocals, sung by Elliott with Alex's backing vocals (how they remind me of dear Blinda and Kevin). "Girls We Know" is one of the most divergent songs, with a darker sound followed by "Nap Time," which I would represent as a "Shoegaze March of the 2010s"; "Waste" closes the trio of the only songs over 3 minutes in the album (apart from the aforementioned mini-suite "Brightest Star"), and here we return to the rhythm of the first songs, with great rhythm and speed, shamelessly Punk attitude with a purely Noise interlude with neck feedback. "Do You Wanna" is the least Shoegaze song, with always-on distortion but more contained, where Elliott's very low voice, which he had already showcased in the old work (see "So High"), can be heard for the first and last time.

"Please Don't Kill Yourself," with a very sick beginning, recalls once more the early works of "My Bloody Valentine," with less dreamy attitude that is, however, fully reclaimed in the final track, "Wave," sung by Alex, with a dreamy verse structure that explodes into pachydermic violence in the chorus, rich in feedback and a sort of "Na Na Na" that instantly grabs you, and the album closes.

The evolution from the previous album is there, I noticed more Punk attitude, which personally I don't dislike, alternating with the dreamy sound that was more present in the old work! Alex is much more in the background, but enriches the songs sung by Elliott with back vocals. Perhaps the only flaw is being too similar to their predecessors, but that could be seen as a negative or a positive thing; already more than the previous album, you can hear a kind of typical Ringo sound, and many excellent new things, as we await the masterpiece, I'm giving it 4 stars myself.