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Rating: It's called "wow." Simple word. It's even a palindrome. It could be a circle, perfection. Nothing could be further from the truth.
2 discs for 27 songs. And what do they leave you with? I don't know, I really couldn't figure it out. Perhaps too much. Perhaps too little. They are not songs, they are demons. Madness. The desire to burst out of hell, or heaven, with one's monsters. Or none of this. "Wow" is a journey. Not one of those psychedelic and hallucinatory trips, but a journey inside music. Perhaps this is the fifth work of Verdena. Music. Everything sounds and everything makes sound in this record that reeks of vintage right from the cover. Alberto's voice is in the basement, or rather lower, it's at the exact center of the planet. Words don't exist. They are wails, melodies, occasionally just verses. They are music. The drums hit like never before. Blows. Many blows on those skins; Luca Ferrari plays the role of the lion and hits hard, hits fiercely and crooked to keep up with his older brother's nightmares.
Verdena are 3. But they should be an orchestra. An army. Everything sounds and everything is played: guitars, basses, percussion, mellotron, rhodes, synths, accordions, xylophones, djambé, violins, kazoo... Everything seems to be where it should be, yet nothing is in its place. Ever. The desire to experiment reaches extreme, infectious levels. The previous "Requiem" was a joke, it's water under the bridge. Here for a moment we have Pink Floyd, the next instant Interpol (the second track is called "loniterp" an anagram of Interpol), then, in the same song, the world flips, and we find Flaming Lips. Further on, Zeppelin-like echoes with 70s riffs, for a minute it seems like you're hearing the Melvins, the sonic fog even lets you hear Nine Inch Nails. Maybe I understood nothing. Maybe it was over an hour of being messed with. I don't know. Certainly, it's a (double) record that must be discovered, dissected, devoured, and digested. A world to face as if we were being catapulted inside for the first time, as if we had to rename everything that already exists. To explore like Adam and Eve.
Honestly, I'm still disoriented. What is this? This flow of sounds entering our heads? What is this feeling of disturbance and incompletion? Let's give it a name, a simple name though, since everything seems so complicated... what name do we give it?
WOW.
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Other reviews
By Giò.Amoroso
Verdena is the Italian band I admire the most because I find in them a creative approach that few have.
An album destined to become a milestone of rock made in Italy, which definitively distances them from their beginnings.
By marypolly
"A truly beautiful record is one that immerses you in a climax of full satisfaction from beginning to end, and this is not the case."
"The album is there, and it truly is beautiful, but it’s hidden. You just have to enjoy finding it."
By zaireeka
I have in my hands an extremely cultured piece of work, original in the assimilation of all its references, never banal, intricate, and at the same time enjoyable.
The saving power of music (just think that lately we also have a Pope on our side, thinking the same thing, though he probably doesn’t listen to Verdena...).
By giulieo
This album is no longer rock either, I would say that rock-pop would be a pretty happy and meaningful definition compared to their past albums.
They could, they had the physique, and they made the revolution.
By marla
The album communicates a sense of tranquility almost as if the three... have found their dimension, their corner of serenity.
'Wow' is a bold and courageous record, for certain anti-fans, but made so fascinating by this reluctance.
