Vanadium
Nel Cuore del Caos

IN THE HEART OF CHAOS (NAR, 1995) After five long years of absence from the scene, the band led by the charismatic singer Pino Scotto makes a powerful comeback with a strong, emotional album filled with unique energy. For the first time in their long and glorious career, Vanadium decides to opt for singing in Italian, to make their music more immediate and impactful: the result is impressive. It's impossible not to get caught up in the electric whirlwind unleashed by the five rock veterans, who, like warriors who have fought thousands of battles, return to challenge the monster of ignorance dominating the musical "culture" in our country.

The warm and scratchy voice of the legendary Pino Scotto (who thanks the Cappanera brothers from Strana Officina in the booklet for their sincere contribution to Italian rock) begins to slowly introduce us to "In the Heart of Chaos", a dimension of existence that each of us is destined to experience at least once in our lives. Vanadium tells us stories, small prose in which it is easy to find fragments of poetry and the warmth that only the love for life can give. The album opens with the wonderful title track, a piece that exudes the raw energy of rock from every single note. The apocalyptic urban landscape painted by the magical guitar strokes of the great Stefano Tessarin is dark and desolate but hints at a small glimmer of light, keeping alive the hope of getting out, to breathe again. The next song, "Nero Sogno Grunge" (the first single from the album), is as brutal as it is a lucid destruction of the Kurt Cobain myth, an anthem to life that reflects on the strength of humble people who face great difficulties every day without ever giving up, not succumbing to the siren calls of an easy escape from the world. Because "In Nirvana, you know, maybe you'll never arrive" and sometimes it's more challenging to fight to survive than to let go into the arms of death. "Like Lead (Game Over)" targets the corrupt political class that came to light after Tangentopoli: the lyrics take on strong tones, and the song proves to be solid and compact. It continues with "Stivali Con le Ali", a typical rock song complete with a pyrotechnic riff ignited by the impeccable Tessarin; what's surprising here as in other pieces is Ruggero Zanolini's mastery in using the keyboards, often able to act as an additional guitar, just as it happened with John Lord in Deep Purple, always a reference band for the historic Italian combo. The pace of the record slows with the beautiful "Il Mondo di Lù", an acoustic track that tells the cursed story of a dirty dream drowned in blood without rhetoric. "Sono sotto Shock" is a captivating old-style rock n' roll song, with Motley Crue-like lyrics, an explosive guitar solo, and a frenzied piano as in the best productions of the British street rockers Quireboys. Continuing on the journey, we reach "Piazza San Rock", where we are delighted by Max Prandi's harmonica; Pino then gives us unique emotions in "Vodka e Luna", a song with a lethal pace, where the war machine of the rhythm section formed by the Mascheroni – Prantera duo shows once again its deadly assault potential. The ballad "Ancora on the Road", the second masterful slow of the disc, is yet another gem of this production, which closes with a Bryan Adams cover, the wild "Summer of 69", a nostalgic track and the only concession to the English language. Erroneously regarded by the "learned" official critics as a misstep in Vanadium's career, "In the Heart of Chaos" still demonstrates today a work capable of unleashing emotions rarely found in a rock album produced in our country. The courage to question themselves and get back on track after multiple successes but also many difficulties speaks volumes about the personality of Vanadium, without a shadow of a doubt the most important heavy rock band ever in our peninsula. "In the Heart Of Chaos", while not fully capturing the magical atmosphere found in historic works like "Born To Fight" or "Game Over", stands well above almost all Italian-sung rock albums produced in the '90s, excluding from the context only the masterpiece by Timoria "2020 – Speedball". The disbandment of the group, which happened shortly after the end of the long support tour for this work, marked, at least for now, the end of the Vanadium adventure.

In hindsight, this LP seems to be the result of Pino Scotto's will, who is now headed towards a brilliant solo career, to present a band significantly different from the one we were used to knowing, perhaps closer to the path he undertook after the first separation from his companions than to the previous Vanadium-recorded episodes. However, even after repeated listens, it's undeniable that the five musicians literally put their heart into crafting these pieces, making many of the songs genuine gems. Probably, artistic differences following the great teamwork achieved in this album led the band members, always deeply sincere with their audience, to decide to pursue different artistic paths. Nonetheless, this great group left us with another small masterpiece of their incredible career, dedicated to values such as consistency and honesty: for all those who have never had the chance to witness the deeds of this legendary band, there remains the hope of being present, one day, at the return of the five rock n' roll heroes and standing below their stage when they are "Ancora on the road". (Enrico Rosticci)