To Repel Ghosts
To Repel Ghosts

Sometimes the internet really delivers surprises. I admit that I was searching for something entirely different, but, the magic of search engines, I stumbled upon the tracks of this band from Varese. That's how I discovered they had covered a Flipper song (exactly what I was looking for) and I turned on the player on their space to "sample" some of their tracks. I don't dislike them at all; they sound strange, and I enjoy seeking out strange things. So, I ordered their CD, which arrived by mail a few days later, and I "blasted it" in my Punto while driving to work...

But let's get to us: the CD consists of 7 tracks (actually 8, but the last one isn't listed on the cover, might be a ghost track?) and lasts about half an hour. It starts with "Stoned Slave Song," with atmospheres between Bauhaus and Echo and the Bunnyman but with a voice that reminds me of Marilyn Manson (said like that, it seems to have nothing to do with the music, but in the end, I don't mind). The following "feel" has a more alternative beat and reminds me of '90s bands, especially in its structure and how "pop" it is compared to the rest of the album (I even hear some references to QOTSA). "Nowhere," which is my favorite, is truly punk and sounds like some of the Pixies stuff from the good old days. "To Repel Ghosts" doesn't convince me much compared to the others because I find it too metal (reminds me of Iron Maiden for the guitar arrangements) and because the singing maybe draws too much from the Foo Fighters.

"Fitzcarraldo" is a bizarre piece, obsessive and repetitive. It's interwoven with a spoken voice clearly taken from the Werner Herzog film (but that was easy to guess from the title of the track) and concludes with a crescendo of chaos between music and the protagonist's screams from the film. "Way of the world" is the Flipper cover, the reason why I found this band. Compared to the original, the song is truly transformed, both for the acoustic guitar intro (not present in the original piece) which reminds me of certain arpeggios by Robert Fripp of the King Crimson, and for the monolithic sounds. I believe Bruce Loose would appreciate it if he heard it! "F*Eyes" belongs to completely different genres, to be situated between Motorhead and Steppenwolf. Much more hard rock and stoner than new wave and punk, but still with dark tones. The concluding piece (which I mentioned might be a ghost track) is a fairly long instrumental compared to the average length of the other tracks. Here too, as in Fitzcarraldo, the track is instrumental and structured with multiple crescendos of music always over a voice taken from a film (which I can't figure out what it is!). Beautiful the pathos that creates an atmosphere reminiscent of Joy Division, although I would have preferred a "real" voice rather than the spoken word from the film.

In conclusion, I can say that I quite liked this CD, especially because it seems to go against the current of the Italian trends of the moment and because it sounds very varied (and not forgetting that they covered "my" Flipper!). I would be curious to eventually see them live to understand if the live performance is something different from the record and perhaps "more energetic."