Algot Bläckfisk (according to the band, the name was picked out from an Ikea catalogue) come from Rome and were formed in 2012, initially under the name of Arbre Magique Project, on the initiative of Jacopo Perrone, Thomas Perrone, Giulio Guidotti and Massimiliano Cardelli. After some personnel changes, long rehearsals and some gigs on the local scene, in 2018 the band finally self-released a debut album entitled Catalogue Break with a line up featuring Alessandro Grazzi (keyboards, vocals), Giulio Guidotti (vocals, trumpet), Jacopo Perrone (guitar), Massimiliano Cardelli (bass) and Thomas Perrone (drums). The album was recorded and mixed by Valerio Fisik at the Hombre Lobo Studio in Rome while the artwork was provided by David Moreno and Giulio Guidotti. It’s an interesting album where dark atmospheres prevail and the particular baritone voice of Giulio Guidotti and his trumpet add a touch of mystery and exoticism to the compositions...
The opener “Mondo Tapis Roulant” compares a strange, frenzied running on the treadmill to real life where there are some men that can’t see anything but their own feet and seem like idiots unaware of what’s happening around them. Then comes the nightmarish “The Pit And The Pendulum”, inspired by a horror tale by Edgar Allan Poe about a prisoner tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. The following “Blurred” is a long, disquieting track about regrets and time passing by and features a short ska passage that in my opinion sounds a bit out of place...
“Catalogue Break” is just a short instrumental passage that leads to the theatrical “Filthy Swarm” where music and words evoke the images of a stage where a strange play is going on and where the hunting, threatening eyes of insects-like forms are looking for you… Then, the last track “Harry” tells of an unfortunate character who created a monster he couldn’t control.
Soon after the album was released Alessandro Grazzi and Massimiliano Cardelli left the band and where replaced by Alessandro Nicotra e Francesco Argentati. The name of the band was shortened in Algot and the music veered to math rock with Italian lyrics. But this is another story...
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