Stadio
Diluvio Universale

As punctual as a bill, a female complaint, death, the news of faith.

But also like the beautiful things in life, which perhaps are a bit less punctual than the bad ones, but they arrive quite regularly...: a dinner... a fling... a concert... just an album by the Stadio.

These cheerful Emilians, like all Emilians, take their work very seriously. When they're not doing concerts, they write, then record, then go on tour, and again they write and again and again... Sometimes one might have a bit of a scare (poor Gaetano): well, they take care and start again. Sometimes they lose pieces along the way: well, they replace them and don't lose a thing. Maybe they're even better off.

It is so because the Republic, as we know, but especially Emilia, are truly founded on work.

And these ones just never get tired.

And their goal is to do it honestly, their work, maintaining the quality level of the product, always "aesthetically" high, and "artistically" (in both quotes are necessary) more than acceptable.

Surely: from the pen of the Stadio and their collaborators, little big "pop" masterpieces have undoubtedly emerged (in the broadest and most improper sense possible), culminating with the perfect "E dimmi che non vuoi morire," perhaps the epitaph of their best art, but certainly of the poor Pravo and the completely unmissed and dead Sanremo. Then followed albums that are catchy, beautiful, excellently written, packaged, and interpreted. I repeat: a monument to professionalism. And this "Diluvio Universale" fits perfectly in this line of products with an extremely high standard, enjoyable without the listener having to be ashamed, not even a little, of what he's listening to.

The album flows pleasantly, well played and excellently sung. The well-established pair of authors Curreri and Grandi pack a series of melodic tracks without being rhetorical, felt without being superficial. Things that, like those of the past, could have even crossed the terrible and useless Sanremo stage without harm. They didn't go there: fortunately, for us and for them.

When a group, or an artist, has a loyal fan base that allows them to live by doing what they do best (albums and tours) without having to surrender to the various cattle markets, well... it's certainly a good thing.

Here, a small highlight, the title track shines, written with the usual Vasco (here too not particularly inspired but definitely salvageable), and especially the beautiful "Cortili Lontani," where Saverio Grandi not only contributes his usual pen but also his voice, a pleasant voice, rather deep, not as trained as Curreri's but more than listenable. The two voices blend well in a story of people meeting in a sad setting. Perhaps the little masterpiece of the album.

A safe purchase, a more than certain download if one believes that quality pop exists, well-made and of "high" entertainment.

If instead, one believes that every release must be a masterpiece and that the only criterion to judge music is the (subjective and highly debatable) one of "utility," well...