Sananda Maitreya
Nigor Mortis

Sananda creates post-millenium rock... and for those who don't know what I'm talking about, let me take a step back: some time ago, the famous musician Terence Trent d'Arby changed his name to Sananda Maitreya to celebrate the experience of spiritual renewal. Change of spirit, change of identity, and change of artistic life: now Sananda is an independent musician who writes, produces, and publishes his music (on the internet) without the filters of the industry determining what is marketable and what is not.

The idea of a post-millenium rock stems from the belief that, after trying everything that professional production can offer, there is nothing left to do but return to the essence of the old rock sound, as it comes out of the amplifiers. Sananda's soulful voice, sweet or gritty depending on the needs, constitutes the added value: the reassuring and recognizable guiding element of the 23 tracks of "Nigor Mortis". A "long" album, a sign that the policy of "nothing is thrown away" is still in place and I see no reason why it shouldn't be given the transparency and integrity of this new artistic course of the musician. A debatable but undoubtedly courageous stance, and in fact, there isn't a track on this album that can be considered less than valid after a reasonable number of listens. Indeed, if there is something immediately tough and rough, especially if it's really hard to exclude the echoes of the melodic Terence from your perception, it’s in the inevitable sensation of repetitiveness that a "natural" rock sound, with very few added colors and essential production, tends to induce. However, I can guarantee that once this obstacle is overcome, you find these songs imprinted somewhere in your mind, emerging spontaneously from time to time.

 The hybridization—a card played by Sananda since his beginnings—is still here, not so evident due to arrangement choices, and the ambition of a soul rock à-la-Sananda Maitreya manages to materialize in "Nigor Mortis" perhaps better than it did in the previous "Angels & Vampires". The jovial lightness of "With A Girl Like You" or "Cowboys And Injuries", the viscerality of "I Never Knew How Much", the groove of "Superstar", the indelible choruses of "Free Me" or "I Don't Give A Fuck About You" are just a few examples of an album rich in ideas and permeated with enthusiasm. I always gladly listen to tracks like "Mrs. Gupta" and "Where Did The Money Go?" for their pleasant strangeness, and when the notes of "At The Crossroads" or "This Town" echo the eclectic guy with the braids, I can't help but smile.

In conclusion, I give "Nigor Mortis" high marks. Sananda Maitreya is one of the greats: he writes, sings, and plays all his pieces and has talent to spare—it's needless to say how this quality is becoming rare, unfortunately even in Indie rock.