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Rating: "My little brother discovered rock n roll, he’s only 22, and he’s out of contròl!" (Art Brut/ T.A.R.M.)
Or, when the "new school" meets the "old school"
And here they are, making their major debut, the three jolly lads from Trentino, aka the Bastard sons of...Dioniso. I waited a bit to write about them, I preferred to see them live first - actually, I had already seen them in July at the end of a festival where they fit in like David Sylvian at the Eurovision (yes, it still exists!) - 20 minutes of fire burnt away just like that, amidst the screams of girls with cell phones (we've become worse than the Japanese!), nostalgic accountants on a day off, and random curious onlookers...
But the other night, no: hordes of slightly less screaming kids more inclined to "mosh", amused parents and random curious folk, like me! The location (!) was unsuitable, but the advantage of being in a nightclub allowed us to enjoy the concert all gathered together and still very close to the stage.
The three are amazing, they're truly great musicians, they've done tons of concerts in the last two years and it shows. You can tell they grew up on bread and Accì/Diccì, but also Foo Fighters, QOTSA, Beatles (of which they performed Sgt Pepper), Led Zep, and, hear ye hear ye, Crosby, Stills & Nash... ...in a cover of which, at a certain point in the evening, "My Friend And I", while in the meantime we were trying to understand "the transversalness of it all", we looked at each other dumbfounded because everyone seemed to quite like it! Cool, huh?! - for us so-called "old school" folks - fun fact: I learned to strum the guitar at 12 on the chords of "Teach Your Children" and "Our House", go figure!...
"In Perpetual Stasis" is, all in all, a decent restart, it's quite polished, even too much (some roughness here and there wouldn't have hurt) and has the vocals very much in the foreground, Vicentini (guitar) no longer sings with a punk-potato in his mouth, which greatly improves the result. The album is sung for well over half in Italian, and the choice - it must be said - is commendable because it's as original as it is risky, there's almost no one daring enough to do this sort of thing in our difficult language, but it's worth trying...
The "bastard" sound is made of powerful accelerations and frequent changes of tone, of voids and fulls, of nice choruses and harmonies, and also decidedly pleasant slow and acoustic moments. "Io Non Compro Più Speranza" (a rock transposition of a 16th-century fable), and "Mi Par Che Per Adesso" (the single) alone would justify the purchase of the CD (it's also at a special price). Quite nice are the slow "Senza Colore" where a Moog by Gaudi (artistic producer) peeks in, and "Versa La Mia Testa" which starts slow and then pleasantly ignites. "Ease My Pain" closes the dances with a typical chant and an irresistible tavern chaos caused by a "arm-breaking" Morra game spiced with various rantings!
Considering the hype surrounding them, wanting to turn them into comic book characters at all costs (but don't worry, it happens to the best of us), the biggest mistake would be to confuse them with the typical fake punk-rock shit-pop groups, all makeup and emo-hairstyles, because they sure have rock talent, and the clear ideas typical of mountain folk too...
...but then again, with mountain rock the taste is enhanced!...see you at the next concert, you damn bastards!
rating: 3.5
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