•
Rating: God bless forever the magazine "Rumore" that in March 1993 introduced me to "Scenes From The Second Storey," the debut album by God Machine: simply the album of the nineties for me, excluding Primus. I still have the old issue of the magazine, damn, more than 23 years have passed, which I am leafing through right now, searching for the article introducing the only Italian date of the band at the Bloom in Mezzago (and for the second time I call upon the good God to bless this place of worship that I frequented for at least ten years).
Here I found what I am interested in reporting verbatim: "Horror scenarios of sinister technological apocalypses; spatial geometries, rhythmic imbalances, vigorous and extended metallic shocks. Intimidating, scabrous Machine of God." (Cit. Rumore n° 13 March 1993).
There is really everything in "Scenes From The Second Storey": 78 minutes of extremely acidic and visionary guitar delirium. A sound wall of fearsome proportions, among hard, alternative, stoner, post, dark, hints of ethnic music, power and melody, acoustic inserts of crystalline beauty. Tension, emotional intensity, light. An immense sound cathedral...Let me out, out, out...I was kidnapped and bewitched by God Machine, thanks also to the purity of tracks like "Seven" and "Purity." And I will never stop venerating them.
I was literally thunderstruck right from the first listens of the album and since the group would play at the Bloom, which I had known for a couple of years, I planned to attend their concert. It was Sunday, and at that time I worked in a paper mill in the Province of Lucca; I didn’t even know what a computer was and on Saturday I called the Milan venue to check if everything was confirmed; the positive response prompted me to leave the next day mid-morning. I faced over three hundred kilometers by car, most of them under heavy rain; but I was certain to witness something memorable, given also the small venue that well suited the deadly impact that God Machine knew how to create in front of their audience.
I arrived at my destination in the late afternoon, took my time, and was immediately struck by one thing: many young people were already present, almost all wearing unusual "metal" T-shirts: Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Testament. Strange, very strange, and I began to have my first suspicions; suspicions that unfortunately exploded in all their drama when I reached the entrance. A notice was posted announcing that the God Machine concert had been canceled due to an unspecified illness of the singer Robin Proper-Sheppard. To try to remedy, the organizers had quickly set up a Metal festival with local bands; I was stunned and didn’t even want to enter the venue, immediately heading back to my car. Unfortunately, there were no other opportunities to see the band in Italy, because the following year, right after releasing their second album, the sudden death of bassist Jimmy Fernandez ended the band's career.
Reaching the parking lot before leaving Mezzago, I manage to exchange a few weak words with a young man, about my age. He tells me he comes from Lecco, a few kilometers away, and was there for the God Machine. We agree on judging the album's grandiosity and unfortunately having to give up a concert that promised to be epic.
Fate had it that I shared with the same guy, Mattia, it seems I remember the name, fourteen years later in Milan a concert of Sophia, the band born from the ashes of God Machine; but that time there were no dialogues between us. More relentless years went by, and by chance, I discovered debaser thanks to a review by Mattia on "Scenes From The Second Storey."
It was April 4, 1993; exactly eleven years later, I was a father for just one day.
Tomorrow morning, I have already planned one of the walks on my mountains; I will reach the 1900 meters of Moncucco, the mountain of Domodossola. The smartphone is already ready to accompany this spiritual ascent of mine; it's easy to imagine which album I will listen to...THE BLIND MAN...
To my daughter Elisa and to tia...a friend.
Ad Maiora.
Loading comments slowly
