Holy yes Rammstein! Herzeleid isn't my favourite, but there's no album from Rammstein that I don't enjoy, and it's probably one of the... four albums of theirs that would be vying for second favourite Rammstein album, so it's pretty damn good. If you haven't already, definitely check out the album "Mutter", it's fucking awesome - definitely in my Top 20 albums of all time.
Indeed, my friend.
Time for some peculiar stuff!
#28CAPAREZZA - MUSEICARap-Based Everything, 2014 Alright, so, this. I was waiting for this moment. I’m sure that nobody on the forum knows this particular artist, except maybe my fellow Italian mates. Caparezza is an Italian rapper, and while an unacceptable amount of Italian rappers are pretty shitty, this guy here is the shining light in the dark room, the spare toilet paper roll in your bathroom. Even though he’s a rapper, Capa (his diminutive) has this ability of not only writing god-like lyrics, with plenty of references to books, cinema and other music in general (sometimes his lyrics are just a list of references to a particular subject, he did this with videogames, movie spoilers, album covers, nostalgic Italian pop colture), his use of puns and of similes is pure genius. Of course, you could only really appreciate his lyrics if you knew Italian very well, but that’s just a detail. Musically, the guy is mad. He’s done nearly every genre available, from pure rap to metal, from celtic to 80’s pop – he even did a song based on his doorbell sound. Not kidding. The only negative aspect (but I love this aspect of his music) is that he has a veeery nasal voice. It doesn’t bother me personally, but it can be a little annoying.
Anyways, on with the album! Museica came out in april and it’s pure bliss. The title is a union of three italian words: Musica (which means music), Sei (six) and Museo (museum) – infact, this is a concept album based on art: the album plays like a museum, each song is inspired by a painting.
At the beginning of the record you have this crazy intro, called Canzone All’Entrata (Entrance song), which is full on puns, and is really ironic. Then the first real song is Avrai Ragione Tu (You Are Right, Then). It’s a pretty steady-rhythm march-like song, inspired by the berlin wall’s graffiti “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love”, it talks about a Russian army entering Capa’s head, and making him regret and deny every idea that he has. It’s a good song, not my favorite but the next track brings things up a notch. Mica Van Gogh (Not Van Gogh) is an heavy riff driven song that talks about how Van Gogh isn’t mad, like most people believe, but we are the mad ones. The record goes on with Non Me Lo Posso Permettere (I Can’t Afford That), which is this irish-folk song inspired by Three Studies Of Lucian Freud, a painting that costs 17 million dollars, that of course talks about the economical crisis that made us use the phrase “Non Me Lo Posso Permettere” in various contexts, even out of money-related stuff. Then there’s Figli D’Arte (literally Sons Of Art, although the meaning of the phrase is someone who has a famous father, either he’s an actor, musician etc..), a pop-rock song about how this guy regrets the life that he has, because he’s the son of a musician, and his father is not so great with him like he is with his fans. The album goes on and on, it’s got 19 freaking songs, so that’s a lot of content. Other great tracks are Comunque Dada (Always Dada), a ska-ish song about Dadaism, Cover, this trip-hop-desert track with a lot of references to cover arts, the beautiful ballad China Town (you read it “Keena”, it literally means Ink Town), an ode to books and to creative writing, Canzone A Metà (Halfway Song), a really cool synth driven song about unaccomplished stuff, Argenti Vive, my favorite, (Argenti Lives), basically a diss track from Filippo Argenti to Dante Alighieri, that takes place during the Divine Comedy. This one track is as metal as Caparezza gets. And the album goes on and on, it doesn’t stop even for a moment: Sfogati (Let It Out), Fai Da Tela (Do The Canvas) and Troppo Politico (Too Political) are three other amazing tracks.
So yeah, Museica is a great piece of music, and of art in general. Now, I ask you a favor.
PLEASE listen to at least one track of this record, and let me know what you think about it. I think it would be an interesting experience for both you and me
Tracklist:
Canzone All'Entrata
Avrai Ragione Tu (Ritratto)
Mica Van Gogh
Non Me Lo Posso Permettere
Figli D'Arte
Comunque Dada
Giotto Beat
Cover
China Town
Canzone A Metà
Teste Di Modì
Argenti Vive
Compro Horror
Kitaro
Troppo Politico
Sfogati
Fai Da Tela
E' Tardi
Canzone All'Uscita
--Performed by Caparezza (vocals), Alfredo Ferrero (guitar), Gaetano Camporeale (keyboards), Giovanni Astorino (bass, cello), Rino Corrieri (drums) and many more persons...--
How I've discovered Caparezza:I became obsessed with this guy around 2007 where a really cool song called Torna Catalessi was having a huge success. I was thrilled by it, so I listened to all the stuff the guy had put out and bam, I was a fan.
#27SABATON - THE ART OF WAR
Not so Cheesy Power Metal, 2008 Oh man, Sabaton are a great band. Even though they're power metal (a genre that is
very hit or miss with me), they're not all that cheesy. Why? Well, they talk about famous battles and war-facts in their songs, and the lyrics are actually great and interesting to listen to. Pretty istructive, actually. Yeah, my 8th grade exam presentation was based on WWII and I used Sabaton songs to narrate it. And it went well
- what more could you desire?
Musically Sabaton are very "triumphant", Joakim is a great singer, I really like the tone of his voice, and I also really like him as a person, he's so freaking nice and funny, you should watch some videos on Youtube, including "
Gay Division".
The Art Of War is the band's fourth album and it has a wide variety of awesome songs on it
- I love the opening of the record, with the quotation from The Art Of War (the book) - "It's a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin".... TATATATATATATATATA
BAM - Ghost Division! One of the greatest opening track from any album. The song is fast, catchy, glorious and overall awesome. That's a nice sum-up of the whole disc, actually
- Other glorious (adjective that substitutes "amazing" in power metal writeups) songs are one of their most popular tracks, 40:1, a song about The Battle Of Wizna, in Poland. The title-track is also awesome, but probably one of the best songs in the record is Unbreakable, which is halfay an half-tempo (heh) anthemic thing, and halfway a furious Maiden fest. Talvisota and Panzerkampf are other amazing moments, but the two final tracks take the cake: The Price Of A Mile is a slow-tempo song that narrates The Battle Of Paschaendale in a very pessimistic way, the lyrics fit well the mood of the track. Amazing vocals and chorus. The last track, very much like Damage Inc. with Master Of Puppets, closes the album with a destructive tune - in every sense. Firestorm talks about the bombings during WWII and man, the music matches well the thematic.
So, yeah, if your looking for a fun, catchy and anthemic album, go for this one, you can't go wrong.
Tracklist:
Sun Tzu Says
Ghost Division
The Art Of War
40:1
Unbreakable
Cliffs Of Gallipoli
Talvisota
Panzerkampf
Union (Slopes Of St.Benedict)
The Price Of A Mile
Firestorm
A Secret--Performed by Joakim Brodén (vocals), Richard Sundén (guitar), Oskar Montelius (guitar), Par Sundstorm (bass), Daniel Mullback (drums), Daniel Myhr (keyboards)--
How I've discovered Sabaton:In the metal community on Facebook, Sabaton seemed to be pretty popular. I always read about them, and so one day I decided to check them out, and I listened to Primo Victoria. Victory indeed.